The Fourth War
by jakeright
Summary: Sequel to Three's a Pattern and 6B AU. Fear grows across the world as even the most innocent people prepare to hunt down the supernatural creatures around them. Steve's pack has gone off to hunt down old enemies and reconnect with family, dividing their strength and leaving them open for attack. As friends old and new come into their lives, can they survive the onslaught?
1. Proscription

**AN: So, I originally said that I was going to start publishing this story a few months ago and publish throughout the summer, but I've obviously failed at that. In fact, I've failed at fully writing this story in that time and am no where near done. I got incredibly busy after outlining this story and then bounced around how to start this story off, which culminated in a lot of changing to what I wanted to do with these first chapters and a great big old writing block that made getting this even close to being done impossible. Also, Chapter 3 was originally going to be a small part of Chapter 2 before it decided to grow a life of its own and make everything more difficult. And then I couldn't figure out a title, but decided on this since it's the fourth fight with "hunters" between the two packs, if you count the deadpool assassins, it also keeps with my theme of tracking the number of alphas in the story. Eventually,****** I was able to overcome all these obstacles and I think got things to how I want them, maybe. ****

**I'm posting the first three chapters of this story which acts as 3/4ths of the prologue I have planned. I think everything else that I have planned for this story that affects the prologue is set in stone, so I'm going to post these and just hope that I don't have to retcon anything by the time I'm done. I usually like having the story finished before publishing, but I also couldn't wait to get the start of this story out there and get something out there in general since it's been so long. So, if something needs to change, I will re-upload these chapters and will include a note with the changes when I start posting more of the story. **

**Part of the debate for how I was going to do these chapters fell into how I was going to cover 2 or so months of activity in an interesting way since there are a lot of gaps in between action, so I decided to just leave the gaps as gaps essentially. I didn't want to create a 20-30,000 word chapter that bounces all over the place, so I broke it down into 3 different arcs based on location. The first chapter follows Steve and August, the second follows Charlie and Fiona, and the third follows the Beacon Hills crew. They can be read as individual chapters or you can follow the time stamps that I added and read all three chapters at once. The time stamps are based on the time zones the characters are in at the time or their section. (These won't last past the prologue I don't think. But give me feedback on it and we'll see where it goes.) There are some details included in chapters that are not in other chapters, but that's mostly the third one, otherwise I'd be coping and pasting a lot of what happened in previous chapters.  
**

**Let me know what you think of these chapters and what your feelings are for where you think the story is heading. Also, let me know if my Time Zone math is off and I'll fix it. I got confused for a bit, but am pretty sure I fixed it, but I'm also fallible.**

**I hope you enjoy!**

_Proscription_

**June 11****th**** 10:00 pm CST**

Steve pulled into the parking lot behind. "Kate was last seen at a motel?" Steve asked stepping out of the Camaro and heading toward the SUV stopped in front of him.

"Even though no one saw her check-in or out or where she went to afterward?" August asked following after the alpha.

"It's less about who saw her and more about what was left behind," Chris told them from inside the car. "Police and hunters have already examined the scene, but you two can take a look before they clean it out tomorrow. Room seventeen," he added pointing at a room on the second floor.

"Glad the pecking order is established," August scoffed.

"The Calaveras follow the code, strictly," Chris warned them. "They tend to not work well with werewolves in general. They're already unhappy about you attacking hunters in the past, and they know you created a beta as well."

"So, we should steer clear of them?" Steve asked bitterly.

"Yes. They're willing to turn a blind eye in order to stop Kate, so long as you two stay out of their way. They want to work separately from you. Do not interfere with them," Chris warned. "Once Kate has been captured or killed, their deal is off, and you two will need to get out of their territory, fast."

"We're nearly at the Guatemalan border, how far south does their border extend?" August asked.

"Mexico and all of Central America. The Republic takes over in South America."

"I won't have a reason to stick around," Steve told him. "I'm not a huge fan of heat."

Chris shook his head slightly at the alpha. "Stay safe," Chris told them. "I'll be around for a while. I'm going to try and track down an old friend, so if you need anything—"

"We'll let you know," August interrupted. "Thanks."

Chris nodded before pulling out of the parking lot. The pair headed up toward seventeen _"They certainly aren't making this easy," _August sighed after attempting to turn the doorknob.

"_Right, 'cause you picking a lock is so hard," _Steve commented.

The hunter smirked and crouched down, starting to work on the lock. After a few seconds, there was a click and the hunter swung open the door. Blood soaked the carpeted floor and was splattered over the walls. A man was sitting in a chair, his arms bound behind him and his throat sliced open in three places. August stepped in and started to survey the room. _"So much for preserving the crime scene," _the hunter thought, noticing the impression of multiple sets of shoes and clean drawers tossed on the bed.

"_Who knows how many hunters they brought through here,"_ Steve replied, his red eyes glowing as he scanned the room. He pushed open the bathroom door and found a similar blood-covered scene. Nearly half of the porcelain sink was missing and another man was laying on the ground, his head bashed in. _"Looks like there might have been a struggle in here."_

"_I just want to know what the hell she was after with these two," _August thought, searching through the emptied drawers. "_Either Kate is an excellent packer, or they didn't wait for us before clearing everything out."_

"_I'm sure she packs light,"_ Steve told him, turning the man over. His eyes narrowed as he found at the man's hand where a few strands of blonde hair were matted against the blood.

"_Can you get a scent?" _August asked, searching the first man's pockets but turning up empty.

The alpha shook his head. _"Try now,"_ Leonard thought to the alpha.

"_Just barely,"_ Steve said, feeling the werecat's enhancement.

"_Then let's get going."_

* * *

**June 13****th**** 11:00 AM CST**

"I've been wondering why there's a Caesar running amuck in my area," the Hispanic woman with her back turned to the door stated as Tiberius was guided into the room by another man.

"You know why I'm here, Araya," Tiberius replied.

The woman turned, smirking at the other hunter. "I've always found interactions between our families—interesting," she said, moving around the room before sitting behind her desk. "Considering your family doesn't follow our code and how strictly we enforce ours."

"Well, it's your stringent code that we're running into issues with."

"I'm not surprised considering how you seem to have given up on your own. Do you think we should all cast our codes aside?" Araya asked, pulling open one of her desk drawers and pulling out her pistol.

"We're not asking you to cast aside your code," Tiberius explained as she started to polish her gun. "We're just asking you to consider the lives that you would save by—"

"And how many more lives would that destroy?" she asked interrupting him, leaning forward. "Hm?" she added before Tiberius could reply.

"Araya—s"

"Honestly, I thought this meeting would have gone differently. I've already told Señor Argent that I have no interest in this deal. Now," she said cocking her gun and nodding at the man that guided Tiberius in. "Severo, please remove this man from my home."

The man reached for Tiberius's upper arm, but Tiberius pulled away from him. "I don't need an escort," he told her before turning away from her.

"Spread the word, Severo," Tiberius heard Araya say as he walked down the hall toward the exit. "The die has been cast."

* * *

**July 7****th**** 1:00 AM CST**

"_I smell her," _Steve thought as he started to crawl out of August's SUV

"_Not in the middle of Tegucigalpa," _August warned. _"Someone could see you."_

Steve ignored August and continued onto the roof of the car. The roads were empty aside from a few parked cars under the street lights. _"New moon tonight, harder for anyone awake to even see. I'll get her into the street and—"_

"_Steve, no,"_ August warned as Steve leapt from the SUV.

"_Stay close, I'll flush her out."_

The alpha sprinted down a side street as the SUV's wheels squealed, trying to turn to follow after him. _"I've got you,"_ Charlie's voice echoed in the hunter's head as the vehicle straightened out.

"_How's your vacation?"_ August scoffed as he slammed the pedal to the ground.

"_Well, Paris is beautiful, but we're on our way up to the top of the Eifel Tower and can't help in a fight right now."_

August rolled his eyes before sliding around another corner after the alpha. _"Stop,"_ Steve told the hunter.

August slammed on the breaks as Steve ducked into an alleyway. _"You need to stop,"_ the hunter warned.

The alpha ignored him and continued down the alley as August pulled over and listened through Steve as the alpha approached the door. "Awe, come on, kitty. Tell me where it is," a familiar woman's voice mocked.

"I'll never tell you!" a man with a Brazilian accent spat back. "It must be kept safe from the likes of you and your family!"

"I think you can be convinced otherwise," Kate replied, almost in a whisper before a gun fired.

August leapt out of the SUV as Steve sprinted the rest of the distance to the door and kicked it in. Kate turned to look at the alpha as the man fell to the floor. Steve's eyes started to glow red as a growl rumbled through his throat. Kate smirked at the alpha before sprinting toward the door on the opposite side of the building.

August ran into the warehouse and headed toward the man on the floor as Steve bolted after Kate. Blood dripped from the man's mouth and his abdomen was soaked. "Don't let her get it," the man groaned

* * *

"_Steve, he needs to be healed," _August thought to the alpha

"_She's going to get away."_

The man grabbed August's hand as he went to apply pressure to the man's wound. "She can't get the yellow wolfsbane."

"What?" August gasped, looking down at the man.

"_Yellow wolfsbane is a rare, yet powerful strain of wolfsbane," _Leonard explained as Steve chased Kate through the alley. _"In a liquid form, it can paralyze the target. At a high enough dose, it will slowly, and painfully, kill the paralyzed target. But as a plant, it can reverse the effects of a werewolf's bite."_

"_If you get it before she does, she'll be a lot easier to kill," _Kaia responded.

Steve shook his head as he felt a surge of speed. He started to close the distance and leapt forward, tackling Kate. The alpha rolled past her, blocking the path as he roared at her.

Kate chuckled as she looked up at Steve. Her face had darkened and developed spots and her green eyes stared back at the alpha. "Here in the middle of the street? Really, Steve, isn't that against your little code?"

"Aren't you against yours?" Steve scoffed.

Kate's eyes narrowed as she growled and ran at him. Steve smirked and went to sweep her legs, but she lunged forward, tackling him to the ground. "This has always been too easy," she hissed, raising her hand to strike the alpha.

Steve felt a surge of strength and grabbed her wrist as her hand came down. He twisted her arm sideways and threw the werejaguar off of him. The pair immediately jumped to their feet and ran back at each other.

"_Steve, he doesn't have much time," _August called out. The alpha's claws just missed Kate as she bent backwards, out of his way. She chuckled and kneed him in the gut before kicking him away.

"_Neither do we, we have to stop her, and I need your help," _Steve told him.

"_Steve's right, this could be the only chance," _Jay added.

"_Heal him and get the location of the wolfsbane," _Kaia told the alpha. _"She's evenly matched with you. The wolfsbane will weaken her so that there is less risk when fighting her, if you continue, you might lose." _

"_We just have to buy enough time for Charlie and Fiona to find a place to help,"_ Jay growled.

"_Jay, it's going to take us a while, too long,"_ Fiona told him.

Steve scoffed in his head before looking back toward the warehouse. He paused when he thought he saw Kate hesitate, but she immediately regained composure and laughed as he stared her down. Steve bit his tongue and ran off to the warehouse. He heard Kate's footsteps fade as she ran the opposite way.

The alpha dashed through the door and slid next to August and the man, immediately grabbing the man's arm. Black tendrils crawled up his and August's arm as the man's wounds began to close. The pair gasped as Steve released the man's hand.

"How did you—" the man started

"We need the wolfsbane," Steve interrupted. "We need to stop her."

"No," the man stated, jumping out of August's grasp and staring at the two. "It must be kept safe. If anyone outside of us gets their hands on it—who knows what they would do with it."

"We want to get our hands on it to hurt her," Steve told him.

"And if you fail, or she steals it from you?"

"We're trained—" August started

"That's what the man who took our last flower told us. And yet, he is the cause of all of this," the man shook his head and turned away. "I will not give you its location, no matter what."

Steve growled and moved toward the man, but August stopped him. _"You'd be no better than Kate," _the hunter warned. Steve turned and glared at him before turning back to watch the man transform into a puma.

"What the—"

"Hopefully, we'll meet again on better terms," the puma said before running off.

* * *

**July 10****th**** 10:00 pm CST**

"Pedro?" Tiberius asked once he made his way into the warehouse's back office.

A lightly tanned man turned to face the hunter. "I'm surprised you've heard of me," Pedro replied in a Brazilian accent.

"Well, I was surprised when I was told the leader of the Cangaço wanted to get in touch with me," Tiberius replied.

"I'm impressed, we've been operating in secret for almost a century."

"I do my research."

"Then, I think you know our goals align, Senhor Caesar."

"I know you're also after the wolf," Tiberius stated

Pedro nodded. "I saw two of them. They fought each other, just briefly, then they separated. The display has caused a bit of panic amongst my men."

"I'm only interested in the one," Tiberius stated.

"Yes, I know, I know. But, I want my men to know how to protect themselves, and me, against these kinds of monsters. I'll eliminate the beast for you, but I'd like to learn what hurts them before I do. I'd like to study it.

"That's not exactly how I—" Tiberius started

"I know," Pedro stated, cutting the hunter off. "I also do my research, and I know that you have a history with these wolves. That's why I reached out to your friends first." Tiberius looked at the man cautiously. "You're friends tell me that you would be able to capture it alive and deliver it to us safely. They also said they welcome us in the fight against this threat."

* * *

**July 22****nd**** 10:30 pm CST**

"_It's been too long," _ Steve thought as he and August peered out over the hill at what was left of an abandoned church. _"She's trapped herself in there and won't be getting away this time," _the alpha added, looking to the hunter._ "We'll be able to go home soon."_

"_We have her right where we want her,"_ August thought back, nodding at the alpha. _"We don't have the wolfsbane, so we'll need to make sure we are prepared for anything she can throw at us. But, with Charlie and Fiona settling in, we'll have a slight advantage still."_

Steve sighed _"Didn't Scott tell us to steer clear of churches? He never said why."_

"_I flipped through the bestiary a bit before we left. Werejaguars can apparently draw some kind of strength from them."_

"_How so?"_ Steve asked before hearing something clinking down the hill to their left. _"That doesn't sound like metal."_ Steve thought, continuing to stare ahead at the church. _"Almost sounds like bone."_

"_It's a berserker, but how?"_ August thought, reaching for his gun.

"_Wait," _Leonard told them. _"Act like you heard nothing and head back to the car."_

"_What?" _Steve asked. _"Why would we—"_

"_Werejaguars can use certain churches to create and control berserkers. Kate probably knows that you two are there, but isn't sure that you know that she is there."_

"_Why do you think that?"_ August asked as the pair headed back to the car.

"_Cause if she did, the berserker would have attacked already," _Leonard stated.

"_If we leave now, she won't expect us later," _Steve thought as they entered the car.

"_We'll be able to ambush her, and it'll give me time to create and explosive to take out the berserker,"_ August added.

"_We probably should have checked with Leonard about everything before leaving," _Steve said as he started the car.

"_Or just read the bestiary that you have access to instead of skimming it," _the werelion commented.

* * *

**July 24****th**** 1:30 AM CST**

"_Remember, as soon as that makes contact it will explode,"_ August told the alpha as they slowly crept toward the church.

"_Exactly how stable is it again?" _Steve asked, looking down at the makeshift bomb in his hand.

"_Want me to lie to you?"_

Steve scoffed as they continued on. They moved around the side of the ruined building to the doorway they saw earlier, but stopped when they saw it had caved in. _"I doubt she chose this way to barricade herself inside."_

"_No,"_ August though, crouching down and swiping the ground with his finger before examining the dust. _"Someone else had the same idea of blowing up the berserker."_

Steve's eyes shined red as he searched the area surrounding them. He paused when he spotted a shell casing on the ground a few feet away. He picked it up and examined the skull etched into it. _"Seems the Calaveras were on the same trail as us."_

"_Bullets wouldn't be too useful against a berserker, and it's the only one. It might be a warning."_

"_I'm not leaving until we know Kate's dead." _The two took a few steps away from the church before Steve lobbed the bomb at the door. He turned and shielded August from the debris as the bomb blew away what was left of the doorway. The alpha began tossing aside the rubble until he found a staircase leading deeper into the old church. The pair listened for a moment, hearing nothing before venturing into the church. _"This wouldn't happen if the Calaveras would put aside their ridged code and cooperate with us," _Steve thought as he found a freshly abandoned sleeping bag.

"_And if they told us to put aside our code?"_

"_Ours doesn't get in the way of accomplishing the same goal. They want to take down Kate, so do we."_

"_Their base of operations isn't far from here, if I recall correctly. Maybe I can convince them to work together?"_

"_You mean we,"_ Steve corrected, tossing the sleeping bag to the ground.

"_No, I mean me."_

"We're going to have to get back on them to cooperate more if this is going to work," Tiberius muttered, checking the parking lot through the motel room's curtain.

"Those 'hunters' need to back off," Marcus stated as he finished wrapping the wound on his arm. "If they want 'el Lobo' so bad, then maybe they should let us do things our way."

"Don't mock them, Marcus," Tiberius warned. "They're dangerous and one wrong moved will ruin everything we are working for."

"I don't think they're aware of just how dangerous we can be."

Tiberius narrowed his eyes at the young hunter. "The time for striking back will come. Right now, we just have to play our part. We need to be patient. Follow them and wait for our chance to strike. We don't want to run into issues like we did tonight."

* * *

**July 24****th**** 2:00 pm CST**

"_I still don't like the idea of you going there alone," _Steve thought as August got dressed.

"_I'm not going in defenseless," _August reminded the alpha, strapping a knife to one ankle and a pistol to the other. _"The Calaveras don't make a habit of hurting humans."_

"_They follow the same code that the Argents followed," _Steve reminded the hunter. _"It didn't stop Gerard from hurting—"_

"_They follow their code strictly," _August thought, cutting the alpha off_ "Which is why it will be safe for me and not for you. If I get into trouble—which I won't—I'll reach out for help."_

"_Fine," _Steve scoffed. _"But I want to be able to see everything while you're gone. Then when you do need help, I'll be on my way before you ask for it."_

"_Alright," _August thought as he opened the door. _"I'll be back soon."_

Steve closed his eyes and watched as August headed toward his SUV. Once the hunter had pulled out of the lot and started down the road the alpha leapt out of the window and sprinted off after the hunter.

August flashed one of his IDs at the bouncer to the club before heading inside. The dull thud of the electronic music exploded into a roar as he opened the front door. A few patrons sat at the bar while a handful of people danced on the floor. August's eyes narrowed at the other patron before he shook his head.

"What're you having?" the bartender, a large, bald man, grunted as August took a seat.

"A question," August said softly. The bartender pointed to his ear, confused. August smirked and the bartender's façade faded away. "Tell me, who comes to a club on a Wednesday morning?" The hunter finished, placing removing the gun from his hip and setting it on the bar.

The music immediately stopped and August felt everyone's eyes turn toward him, and he heard the unsnapping of their holsters. "I'd like to speak to Araya Calaveras, as a representative of the Caesar family."

* * *

Steve glared at the bouncer from across the street, before closing his eyes and watching as August was led from the club through a hallway toward the back office. Steve traced out the distance and started to move around the building. He paused near a window as a door inside opened. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of seeing two Caesars in one summer before," Steve heard a woman say through the window. "And I don't think anyone in your family has walked in as bold as you."

"I like to get to the point," August stated.

* * *

August opened his mouth to continue talking but was shushed by Araya as she wagged her finger at him. "Perhaps you should remove your weapons before getting too close to the point. You can start with the gun you waved around at my bar before moving to the one attached to your ankle," she said turning around at looking out the window. August bit the side of his cheek as he bent down to remove the pistol. "And the knife too," she added without turning around.

"Fine," August grunted removing the knife from his leg. He set the weapons on the desk in front of him and took a step back. The man who led him in left when Araya waved her hand. "We need to—"

"No, miho, we don't need to do anything," Araya interrupted causing August to clench his jaw.

The young hunter took a breath a relaxed his jaw. "Things would go a lot easier for both of us if we just worked together."

"And to what end?"

"Taking out Kate."

Araya clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Your family is so bent on revenge, it's like you've discarded your code entirely."

"I don't follow my family's code," August told her. "Protegimus illos qui nequeunt protegere se."

"And who would you be protecting?" Araya asked without missing a beat. "Your alpha who decided to fight her in the middle of a city?"

August eyed her for a moment before responding. "Innocent people that Kate would hurt, your hunters—"

"My hunters are quite capable of protecting themselves."

"I'm not worried about your hunters," August spat. Ayara looked at him for a moment before moving to sit at the desk. "So, you're just going to stick to your code, no matter how many innocent people get hurt?" August asked, raising his voice as Ayara unsheathed August's knife and started to examine it.

"We are at a time where we must stand by our codes. It is the only way any of us are going to survive."

"What are you—"

"_Lo temenos,"_ the bartender's voice called through a radio on the desk, interrupting August. August froze and looked at Araya.

"Bring him in, Severo," she replied after grabbing the radio. "Come with us," she said to August as a pair of hunters came through the door and restrained him. "We have something to show you."

* * *

Steve tucked himself under the window as he heard a pair of footsteps approach from above. _"She's barely letting him get a word in,"_ the alpha hissed to himself. He stood next to the window and turned slightly to see inside. _"Maybe if she had a demonstration on just how weak her men are compared to us—"_ Steve started before taking a breath. _"Let August handle it," _the alpha calmed himself as the footsteps trailed away from the window. He heard a blade slide out of its sheath and started to creep up to peer through the window, but was stopped when an electric baton dug into his back. He tried to call out, but a thickly gloved hand muffled his cry until his vision went black.

* * *

"We're two members of hunting families, we can talk this out," August grunted as he was pulled along by the two hunters. "We aren't enemies!"

"Ah, but you're not a member of a hunting family, miho," Araya replied, clicking her tongue. "You're a member of a pack. And you've decided to lead a wolf straight to my home."

"What're you talking about?" August groaned as Araya opened a door. The hunters dragged August into the room while Araya closed the door behind them.

"Or maybe I'm wrong," Araya said, walking around the hunter and shrugging. "Maybe you can explain this?" The bartender pushed open a door on the other side of the room and threw Steve to the ground. The alpha lurched as he landed on his face and electricity crackled. "Do you like them?" Araya asked, gesturing at the handcuffs on Steve. "My own design. A small battery is able to disable even the strongest of alphas, allowing for safe and easy transport when needed." August glared at the older hunter as he tried to pull himself away from the pair holding him back. "I had a pair that went missing recently. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"I have no interest in your torture devices," August spat at her.

"No—No, you only seem to want to kill," she whispered, pacing toward August before turning back to Steve who was still being shocked on the ground. "Just like he has killed hunters, and turned his own beta," she paused, looking back to August. "We hunt those who hunt us."

"Those hunters didn't follow their code. They killed for the sport of it. Because they found killing us for fun," August grunted. "We were in my family's territory and he had every right to defend us."

"Us," Araya chuckled slightly. "And what about the boy?"

"I couldn't leave him," Steve muttered from the ground.

"No?" Araya asked, turning and approaching the alpha. "And why not?" she asked, lifting his chin to look at her.

"He had seen our world. He would have looked for it, and without abilities or training, he wouldn't—"

"Survive?" Araya asked, dropping his face back to the ground. "Turning him didn't seem to help with that, now did it?"

August grit his teeth and glared at the woman as Steve's eyes started to glow red. The young hunter tossed the pair holding him back aside, freeing himself before rushing toward Araya. The elder hunter turned and pointed her pistol at August, glaring down the sights as August stopped in his tracks. August heard a gun click behind him and saw Araya's eyes widen before her gun fired. One of the hunters behind August gasped for one last breath as the gun he had pointed at Steve clattered to the floor. The other hunter scrambled to his feet, but Araya shot him down before he could draw his weapon.

"The two of you need to go," Araya muttered, slightly shaken.

"What?" August gasped. "What the hell was all of this for?"

Araya turned her back and nodded at the bartender. "I needed to learn where loyalties lied. Both from you and my own men."

"What do you mean?" August asked as Severo deactivated the handcuffs and moved to remove them.

"A storm is coming," she muttered. "Everyone's circle of trust will shrink until it vanishes. And I want nothing to do with that! I'll stay out of your way and deal with my own people, even if it means the end of my family," she stated, turning to August. "And as much as it pains me to say this, you may have the best chance at stopping this before it even starts," she muttered turning her back to the others. "Now go."

"What—?"

"Go! before I change my mind," Araya snapped, interrupting Steve.

* * *

**August 6****th**** 12:00 AM CST**

Tiberius reached out his arm to stop Marcus just before they reentered their motel room. Marcus drew his pistol and nodded to his father. Tiberius slowly pushed open the ajar door, revealing a small group of Latino men

"Vocês são os caçadores?" the man asked staring at the pair.

"Sim," Tiberius replied after a moment of hesitation. "You're a long way from home, Carlos."

"We want the wolf," the man announced with his thick accent.

"And we'll get you the wolf," Marcus replied, holstering his gun. "We're getting close."

The group men started laughing and one of them approached the young hunter. "Cute kid," one of the other men commented, ruffling Marcus's hair. "Our boss paid you to—"

The man fell silent as Marcus grabbed the hand on his head and flipped the man into the wall. "Exactly, your boss paid us, the experts," Marcus stated, walking up to Carlos. "Because he knew that a bunch of amateurs like you would get yourselves killed.

The man leaned down slightly, glaring at the young hunter for a moment before chuckling. "We actually came to talk to Pedro," Carlos stated. "He said he was coming to Honduras to meet with you. Yet, we are here and he is not."

"He said he had some work to do in Mexico," Tiberius stated. The group of men cocked their heads. "Communication to brash men who don't check drop locations is hard. It's the downside of having an underground organization."

"Not a worry," the man said. "We'll head there and find him." Two of the others moved to retrieve the unconscious man Marcus threw. "Where exactly was he heading?"

Tiberius was silent for a moment. "I don't think it would be such a good idea—too delicate of a situation for so many hands," Marcus started.

"Maybe it wouldn't be bad for you to follow along with us," Tiberius added quickly. Marcus shot his father a look before turning back to the group of men. "You'd pick up on some skills, become less—amateur."

"And it will make it easier to drop off the wolf," the man said, smirking as he nodded. "So, where to?"

"There have been reports of a rolled vehicle that we intercepted before authorities could respond," Tiberius explained. "There were also reports of dismembered limbs and blood nearby."

"Sounds like the La Loba," Carlos stated. "We should start heading that way."

Tiberius nodded and grabbed the bag near the door as the group of men started to file out of the hotel room. The pair of hunters followed them out and watched the men climb into an SUV. "Follow us," Tiberius stated, hopping into his own SUV.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Marcus asked as he and his father pulled onto the road. The headlights from Carlos's car following closely behind.

"No, but it's easier this way," Tiberius mumbled.

"They're going to get themselves hurt," Marcus muttered.

"I'll make sure they stay out of the way." Marcus shook his head at his father, but the pair continued down the road in silence. "Here we are," Tiberius finally whispered as he pulled off the side of the road, behind the rolled car. The headlights behind him followed suit.

The two hunters exited their SUV as Carolos and his men approached. Marcus's nostrils flared as the stench of sunbaked gore reached his nose. "You think the wolf will come back here? Or that it will come here soon?" Carlos asked. Marcus turned and notice that Carlos and his men had pulled the collar of their shirts over the nose and mouth.

Tiberius shook his head and turned toward the car. "You think the wolf will come back here? Or that it will come here soon?" He repeated as he and his men walked to join the hunters.

"We haven't even investigated, yet. We need to find out who has been here, when, and where they're headed," Tiberius explained.

"Right," Carlos said, nodding slightly while pressing the shirt tighter onto his face.

Marcus smirked slightly at the man's reaction as he turned toward the rolled car. His smile quickly faded as he rounded the corner and witnessed the carnage himself. A couple of gore cover handguns lay on the ground, a few of them still with the hands attached. The remains of a berserker sat in another puddle of blood with what was left of a man next to him.

"Why don't you and your boys move our cars and hide off over there in case things turn sour," Tiberius stated, pointing toward a forested area near the side of the road.

Carlos glanced at the rest of his gagging men before nodding slightly and heading back toward the car.

* * *

**August 6th 1:00 AM CST**

"_The SUV the hunters think Kate attacked should be just a few more miles ahead,"_ August thought before putting his phone away.

"_The hunters and our nagual friend should stay away this time at least. Should make tracking her down a little bit easier," _Steve replied.

"_I still wish we had the yellow wolfsbane."_

"_Maybe she'll lead us right to it."_

"_I hope not," _August grunted before spotting an SUV, flipped on its side, and mostly off the road. The pair exited the car and the scent of sun-baked gore overwhelmed them. "What in the name of Zeus," August muttered, grimacing at the smell.

"_I'll move closer, only one of us has to suffer this scent," _Steve told the hunter. _"Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a trace of her scent over all of this. I can't even smell the trees though._

August nodded as the alpha stepped toward the car. _"Get down!"_ the pair hear Fiona scream in both of their head. Steve looked back at the hunter before his body locked up and he collapsed.


	2. Triumvirate

_Triumvirate _

**Early July 15****th**** 23:00 pm CEST**

"Are you sure you're finally ready?" Charlie asked Fiona as they stepped out into the still, night air.

"Well, we've been to London, Athens, Berlin, Paris—"

"I really liked Paris," Charlie commented interrupting her.

"Yes, I know," she sighed. "We've near been all over the continent this past month, it's time."

"Jack told your mom that we can find the Republic beneath the colosseum."

"Naturally leaving out how to get into there," the banshee reminded the werewolf as she hailed a cab.

"True, but he did say that I'd be able to find it."

"Let's hope so," Fiona sighed as they got into the cab. "Portaci al Colosseo, per favore."

"Sai che è chiuso, giusto?" The driver responded.

"Si, lo sappiamo," Charlie responded. "Abbiamo sentito che è bellissimo di note."

The driver nodded and pulled onto the road, driving toward the center of the city. "Grazi," Fiona stated, paying the driver before the pair stepped onto the street.

"You don't want to site see?" Charlie asked, looking around at the people walking by and admiring the site.

"No, I think we've done enough?"

"It's nearly midnight, yet there's still people around," Charlie sighed. "How are we going to sneak in past the guards and the tourists?"

"Guess you'll just have to find the entrance fast," Fiona replied. Charlie looked at her and raised an eyebrow as she smirked. _"I think you're going to need some help," _Fiona's voice sounded in his head.

"_We'll do what we can," _Leonard thought to them. _"It would be easier if we knew exactly what we were looking for."_

"_I know," _Charlie sighed as he and Fiona started to walk around the Colosseum holding hands. _"There," _he thought to the banshee catching a faint scent of another werewolf mixed with other scents he wasn't familiar with. Charlie started toward the scent but was pulled into a hug by Fiona.

"_Guard,"_ she warned him turning the werewolf so he could see.

The guard's eyes had narrowed on the pair. "It's almost as beautiful as you are, sweetie," Charlie stated, turning to look at the lit-up Colosseum.

"Oh, you know that's not true, honey. It's a marvel just to be near it with you."

"_Cringe,"_ Zach thought to them. The guard looked at them for another moment before shaking his head and continuing his patrol.

"_Now," _Charlie thought as the guard walked around the building. The pair sprinted into the Colosseum and hid behind two of the pillars. _"It's down there,"_ Charlie though, nodding toward the arena.

"_Where are the stairs?"_

"_No idea. Don't think we're going to have time to look," _Charlie responded when he spotted a flashlight heading into the Colosseum on their left. He showed Fiona the edge of the seating area. _"Let's go."_

"_There has to be an easier way," _Fiona huffed as the two ran toward the ancient seating areas, hiding between support columns for the stadium.

"_I'm sure there is. This is probably just a test."_

"_A test of what?"_

"_Cleverness? General ability? Worthiness?" _Charlie told her as the flashlight passed by them. _"Run and jump," _he thought to her before heading down toward the arena. Fiona hesitated for a moment before running after him. She watched Charlie jump down into the arena. She closed her eyes and leapt after him, landing in his arms. _"You didn't think I would catch you, did you?"_

"_I had my doubts about the timing,"_ she thought back with a smirk.

"_Jay had to help out a little,"_ Charlie admitted before pushing her underneath the stands as another flashlight passed by overhead.

"_Where to next?" _Fiona asked. Charlie nodded his head toward the other side of the arena where another flashlight was searching the area. _"Fantastic."_

"_We'll just go the opposite way." _ Fiona nodded at him and the two moved along the path beneath the stands until Charlie stopped her. _"The scent ends here."_

"_Then there must be a secret entrance," _Fiona thought.

"_There have been excavations and restoration done to the Colosseum for centuries, not to mention looting and deconstruction during and after the fall of the Empire," _Leonard told them. _"There is no way there is a secret entrance there."_

"_Well, I highly doubt Jack can just disappear into thin air," _the beta thought, searching the wall for a clue. _"It's not like we haven't hidden things in—Is this a joke?"_ Charlie thought, spotting two R's that nearly blended in with the pattern on the stone wall.

"_I think it's a warning," _Fiona told him. _"Those two were meant to be trapped inside the nemeton, and the nemeton is in Rome—"_

"_To your right," _they heard Leonard say. _"There are five divots in the wall, no more than a hand's width apart. Use your claws."_

"_Hmm, I've never seen Leonard proved to be so wrong so fast," _Zach thought as Charlie approached the divots. He flicked out his claws and inserted the into the small holes, turning his arm slightly a click echoed lightly from the wall. Fiona pushed on the wall in front of her and it caved in slightly, revealing a gap between it and another wall. She squeezed through and he released his grip, quickly running in after her before the gap closed.

Charlie's blue eyes illuminated the dark tunnel. The couple looked at each other for a moment before heading down the hall. The floor sloped slightly down and the tunnel circled around itself as it descended further below the Colosseum. Light started to filter in from around the corner and Charlie eyes faded back to their natural color.

"It's about time you made it," a voice with a British accent said from the light-filled room. The pair shielded their eyes as they stepped into the well-lit room. Once they had a chance to adjust, the banshee and werewolf saw a group gathered around a round table, all looking at them, one of whom was smiling. "I hope you didn't run into any issues," the smiling man said.

"Had to dodge a few guards and then figure out the entrance," Charlie replied. "But the link made things pretty easy."

"I figure it would," the man stated. "My colleagues have already heard much about you and my daughter, so I figure they might as well introduce themselves to you."

A burly man, with wild hair, a full beard, and thick body hair showing from above his shirt stepped toward the two, his arm outstretched. "Daedalus," the man grunted in a Greek accent, almost as a snort, as he shook each other their hand before stepping back.

"My name is Daphne," a slim woman said in an Italian accent, approaching them with a slight bounce in her step. "It's so nice to meet the two of you," she added kissing each of them on their cheeks.

A shorter man behind her moved forward, balancing on his obviously narrow legs. "I'm Edmund," he stated, also with an Italian accent, before heading back to the table, holding hands with Daphne.

Charlie and Fiona looked up as the tallest man in the room approached them. He bowed before shaking their hands and speaking with his Greek accent. "I'm Chiron. As long as you are with us, you will be safe."

"Hrungnir," another tall man grunted as he passed the pair.

"Howya doin'," the shortest man with red hair and a red beard asked, shaking their hands. "Name's Padraig, it's a pleasure."

Jack stepped forward and embraced Fiona. "It's been too long," he sighed. "I haven't seen you since you were a baby."

Fiona awkwardly squeezed lightly. "I didn't expect you to have an accent," Fiona replied.

Jack stepped back and smiled slightly at the ground. "I guess you never got to hear my full story, let's have some privacy first," he said, leading the pair into a room near the chamber before continuing. "I grew up in Chester, left after my A-levels. Mum wanted me to be a doctor, but I wanted none of that," he chuckled. "Roamed around and eventually found my way to the States, where I eventually met Randy."

"That makes a bit more sense why you came here after leaving the pack to Blake," Charlie stated.

"I've always wondered if it was worth leaving," Jack admitted, pacing away from the pair.

"Depends on what you could have prevented," Charlie told him.

"Probably would have been able to stop some things. But probably not everything," the werewolf sighed as he sat in one of the chairs in the room. "But I can also see the good of what has come from your pack, mainly the members of it from what I've heard. And who knows how the Republic here would've been if I had stayed."

"Are they all that's left?" Fiona asked, nodding toward the other room.

"They're representatives from their families," Jack replied, shaking his head slightly. "Daedalus is the patriarch of the minotaurs, Daphne and Edmund represent the dryads and fawns, Chiron is a centaur, and the last of his family, Hrungnir is the captain of the trolls, and Padraig is the leader of the leprechauns and what remains of the fairies. But our numbers have been greatly reduced still."

"That's about the same number of groups the North America Republic had," Fiona stated.

"It is, but we've always required more than they ever did," Jack replied, standing and beckoning toward the pair to follow him through another tunnel. "All the ley lines in North America led to one point before leading to the nemeton, allowing for a small, but focused force to maintain a barrier against any hostile forces. Here, however, there is no convergence, there are several lines that lead directly to the nemeton." Jack opened a door to another chamber where a large tree stump filled the room.

Fiona walked around the nemeton, letting her fingers trail across the stump. "How did an ancient tree make its way this far underground?" she asked, looking up at her father.

"No one is really sure, some say Lycaon had it moved underground to better defend it, others say the Caesar family did so later. I do know that the Caesar family did build the Colosseum overhead to hide the entrance better."

"I thought Vespasian and Titus were the ones who built the Colosseum, after the Caesar family stopped ruling the Empire.," Charlie stated.

"You're right," Jack admitted. "However, the Caesar family was entrenched in Roman politics before and after their line actually ruled. But they needed to take a more background approach later on. It started with Nero—well, it had been a consideration for a while—he was one who betrayed the family and let the position truly get to his head. He thought that if he destroyed any access and to the nemeton through Rome that it would no longer be an issue, so he burned the city above us to the ground. Many members of the Caesar family and their allies died in the fire trying to save the citizens and preserve this chamber, but it was all for naught. Nero built his Domus Aurea over the entrance, sealing the entrance shut."

"But there were other entrances, right?" Fiona asked.

Jack shook his head. "Not back then. It was easier to limit movement into the nemeton through the one entrance only. No one believed that Nero actually sealed the nemeton off though, so after the Domus Aurea was built, those loyal to the Caesar family began to create new tunnels. They needed to ensure that Nero or others weren't gaining access to it while they were blocked out. Those loyal to Nero, did everything in their power to stop the Caesars, which just made them work harder. Eventually, the extra tunnels were created and the Caesars were able to reach the nemeton again. They decided they needed to eliminate Nero, and they weren't the only ones. After Nero fell, the Caesars stepped away from the role of emperor, focusing more on protecting the nemeton itself. Unfortunately, while the Caesars were reestablishing themselves as hunters, chaos thrived in Empire as others vied for power."

"The Year of the Four Emperors," Charlie stated.

"Yeah," Jack sighed. "The Caesar family was fighting their own internal battles against those who stayed loyal to Nero, even after he fell, as well as fighting off those trying to reach the nemeton. As the year came to an end the Caesar family realized the need for a stable Rome. They met with Vespasian during the civil war and, for the first time in a long time, informed someone outside of the Republic about the nemeton. Vespasian understood the importance and, with the help of the Caesars, became the next Emperor of Rome. He and his son, Titus, built the Colosseum and the hidden entrance you used to come in. From then on, the Caesars operated underground, pulling the strings of the Emperors when necessary and helping to ensure that everything stayed on course."

"Yet Rome fell," Charlie reminded him.

"It did. The Caesar name stopped holding weight and they eventually lost sway over the emperors as time went on. They decided to forfeit Roman politics completely, and thus the Republic we know of today was forged. Formal alliances were forged and a new Senate was created without the need of a central leader. Members of the family left to form Republics to defend each of the vital points sometimes even the nemeton itself, depending on how the alliances were created."

"So, how many vital points are there for this nemeton?" Charlie asked, tapping the stump lightly.

"Ten."

"And you're only covering five of them?" Fiona asked.

"Just four, with the devastation of Chiron's family. My pack was the one defending the nemeton itself, but I'm all that's left after Romulus and Remus. The African Republic is helping as much as they can with our southern lines. The Eastern Republic has been watching our lines near them the best they can, but we don't hear to them often due to their more isolationist tendencies.

"It'll be hard to rebuild a pack without an alpha," Charlie muttered to himself.

"Who said there wasn't an alpha," Jack replied, shining his red eyes.

* * *

**July 24****th**** 21:00 CEST**

"I'm surprised you haven't adjusted to the time difference yet considering all the travel you've done before coming here," Jack stated from the desk as Charlie walked into the main chamber, rubbing his eyes and yawning

"You weren't following us, were you?" the beta asked.

"I had some of the members checking on you two to make sure you didn't get into too much trouble."

"We seemed to avoid anything that might have come our way."

"Yes, it's been a bit quiet on the roads lately."

"Exactly where are the 'roads' that lead to Rome?"

Jack looked up from his desk for a moment before waving the beta over. Charlie looked down at the map of Europe beneath the papers as Jack cleared the way. "There are ten leylines that lead to Rome. Daedalus and his minotaurs currently watch the line coming from Serbia, Chiron in Hungary, Hrungnir and the trolls watch the Swiss mountains, Padraig and the fairies watch from Southern France, Edmund and Daphne watch the island of Sardinia. Currently, the lines from Northern France, Germany, Sicily, Greece, and the boot's toe, are not being watched by us. Malik and his—"

"Malik from the American Republic?" Charlie interrupted.

"Yes, he and his children are watching in Sicily. Werehyenas from Africa have moved to watch the boot as best they can. We rotate who monitors the German line from any threats while Padraig and Daedalus try to cover as much of France and Greece as they can. The Eastern Republic helps slightly, but we haven't heard from them in a bit and want to be cautious.

"Who watched over those areas before the before Remus and Romulus attacked?"

"The Naiads watched Greece, the banshees were in France, the dwarves protected Germany, a sphinx watched the boot, and the gorgons guarded Sicily. They all fell trying to protect others from Remus and Romulus and to stop them from finding whatever they were after."

Charlie looked up from the map. "What were they after?"

"We never found out," Jack admitted. "They left for America and we started to regroup."

"They came straight for us," Charlie muttered looking back down at the map. "We didn't hear of them attacking anyone else east of us."

"I'd imagine that the nemeton in Beacon Hills was their ultimate goal. Although, I'm not familiar with anything trapped inside there that they would be interested in."

"Maybe Jay and the others can investigate while they're back there. I'll let them know," Charlie stated before relaying the information to the others.

"Jay's a werecheetah?" Jack asked quickly. "If I remember correctly," he added when he noticed Charlie's jolt to the question.

"Yeah," Charlie said, cautiously.

"And the rest of the pack, it's made up of a fire kitsune, a werelion, you, my daughter, Steve, a hunter, and a man-made male harpy of sorts?"

"Kaia, Leonard, August, and Zach, a chimera," Charlie stated, filling in the gaps. Jack smirked and started to move around the desk. Charlie backed up, his instincts firing off. "Why?"

"It's interesting," Jack replied. "When I was in the pack, we only had other wolves in the link. We were able to lend each other our strengths, so, I'm curious as to if that is still true."

"It is now," Charlie stated.

"Good. I'm also curious about the strength and how safe my daughter actually is with your pack."

Charlie's eye narrowed on the alpha. "She's perfectly safe with us—"

"Good to know," Jack said, cutting the beta off. "But, I'd also like for you to prove it."

"I don't want to fight you," Charlie said, shaking his head at the alpha.

"You won't be," Jack replied as a door burst open. Daedalus stepped out of the doorway, slowly growing until he was no longer able to fit back through the door. A pair of horns spotted out of his head as the hair on his head and chest grew until they met, covering his face, and his now extended snout. The minotaur grunted before charging at Charlie.

Charlie barely managed to dive out of the way and Daedalus rammed into the wall. _"How the hell am I supposed to fight that?"_ he thought, getting to his feet and looking up at the minotaur, who was nearly double his size.

"_You don't," _Leonard thought back. _"Just outrun him and he'll beat himself."_

Charlie smirked slightly as Daedalus charged toward him again. Charlie effortlessly sidestepped him and turned as the minotaur slammed into the wall behind him. Jack chortled off to the side as Daedalus turned to charge again. Charlie shook his head. _"I feel like I should have a red cape,"_ the beta thought as he stepped to the side again. The smile disappeared from the beta's face as he felt an impact in his chest that caused his feet to leave the ground. Charlie struggled against the giant hand holding him before slamming through a wall and into a larger room. Daedalus tossed Charlie to the center as Jack followed the pair into the room.

Charlie flipped up to his feet and stared at his attacker. _"Give me everything you've got, Jay."_ The beta smirked as he felt Jay's power course through him. Daedalus ducked his head to charge at Charlie again and the beta rushed at him, his eyes shining blue as he fully shifted. He grabbed the minotaur by his horns, flipping over him. He felt almost weightless for a second as he heard Zach chuckle in his head. The feeling faded as the weight of Daedalus caused his core to tighten as he flipped the burly minotaur over him.

"Impressive," Jack stated as Daedalus slammed into the wall next to the alpha. The minotaur pushed himself to his feet as Hrungnir and Chiron, who was had transformed fully into a centaur, stepped into the room. "Think you can handle all three?"

Charlie scoffed and wiped away the dried blood on his mouth. "It's a little unfair—for them I mean."

Jack shook his head, trying to hide a smirk. "What the hell are you doing?" Fiona asked her father as she stormed into the room.

Jack held a finger to the others and turned to address the banshee. "I wanted to see what the pack link could do, now that it's expanded past just werewolves. I wanted him to go all out, so I challenged his honor."

"Right," Fiona grunted. Jack turned back toward the others and waved his hands. The three others charged the beta before a scream filled the room, sending Hrungnir into a wall. "But, if you want to see what the pack's strength is, then you should have included me in this fight." Jack looked down at his daughter and her outstretched hand with wide-eyes.

Charlie flipped out of the way and Daedalus plowed into Chiron, causing the centaur to lose balance. _"Watch out!"_ he thought to Fiona as roots creep out of the ground behind her. She leapt into the air and out of their grasp, sprinting to Charlie once she landed.

"You're right, Fiona," Daphne stated as she came around the corner. "We can't let the boys have all the fun. I thought I would have caught you by surprise though. I'll have to be faster next time," she added, sprouting roses from her fingertips.

Fiona and Charlie circled the room with their backs to each other, waiting for the next move. "_There's a storage room full of weapons on the other side of the room,"_ Fiona thought as Charlie used his claws to slice through the throned vines heading their way.

"_Well, that'll help eliminate the root of our problem." _

"_Puns are the worst form of humor,"_ Jay scoffed.

"_Yeah, says you,"_ Charlie replied as he prepared for the others to charge at them.

"_Now!"_ Fiona thought as she screamed, sending Chiron flying away from them.

Charlie grabbed Hrungnir's club and stepped into the troll, lowering the club into Daedalus's horns. Fiona sprinted toward the storage room, slamming the door behind her as Daphne's vines tried to grab her.

"They always run," Chiron scoffed as he returned to his hooves and looked toward Charlie. The beta kicked Hrungnir back, disarming him as Daedalus's horns remained embedded in the club.

Vines shot toward Charlie as Chiron charged the beta and Daedalus retreated to remove the club from his head. The vines fell limp to the ground as a series of daggers flew through them, embedding into the wall next to Jack. Charlie reached out and caught a glaive flying toward him, sweeping the centaur's legs from beneath him. The beta spun the weapon around as he stepped away from the collapsing centaur, slicing through another spurt of vines heading toward him. Fiona joined him with a glaive of her own, spinning it to match Charlie's speed. The pair started to spin around the room, tracking their attackers as they stood back to back.

"_When'd you learn how to use a glaive?"_ Charlie asked as she sliced through a spurt of vines.

"_Kaia's muscle memory has basically taken over," _she replied as Charlie parried Daedalus aside.

"_More so her instincts," _Leonard corrected and the pair buffeted Chiron and Hrungnir. _"Muscle memory would only allow you to spin the stick around, but not attack."_

"_That clarification was super necessary," _Zach thought.

"Stop!" Jack called out, as all four Republic member's attacks were rebuked again. "I see why you were able to defeat Remus and Romulus," Jack stated once everyone stopped attacking.

Charlie's chest heaved and he spun the staff to his side. "Steve and August weren't even contributing," the beta panted. "So, we could have been stronger still."

"Oh?" Jack asked, tilting his head at the beta. "Why did they not help?"

"They were focused on their own fight. The others bounced their forces between us and them," Fiona explained once she caught her breath.

"Is it wise for them to be out fighting on their own?" Daphne asked.

"They're not alone," Charlie replied. "Just like we weren't during this fight."

"And you're winded from a fight that wasn't even to the death. What happens when you're all in danger?" Chiron stated.

"We prioritize. Disengage as needed," Fiona replied. "Fortunately, we have gotten fairly good at that."

Jack's eyes narrowed on the pair. "I see," he muttered before relaxing his face. "Well, I supposed the two of you should get some rest for tomorrow. I'll show you what the surface of Rome has to offer."

* * *

**August 5****th**** 13:00 CEST**

"Fiona," Jack gasped as he nearly ran into his daughter. "I was actually just coming to find you."

"Oh, I was wanting to talk with you about why we came—"

"So, you aren't here to just visit like you said you were?" he interrupted.

"No—Well, we did come to visit, but I was hoping to ask some questions about something else."

"That's alright," Jack chuckled. "We can talk in the car. I want yours and Charlie's help. We've received reports of a couple of werewolves in Germany that are in trouble and—"

"It would be a great chance to regrow your ranks and help someone else out," Fiona interrupted nodding. "Charlie says he'll meet us at the exit when you're ready."

"I'm ready now, let's head out."

Fiona nodded and the pair joined Charlie as they exited the underground tunnel system. They made their way to a parking garage and Jack pulled out a set of keys. "What is that?" Charlie asked as a red compact car's lights flashed.

"A Fiat Panda, really the only way to get around the area."

"_And somehow the backseat is smaller than Steve's Camaro,"_ Charlie thought.

Fiona elbowed him before proceeding to the passenger seat. _"At least there are four doors."_

"_The Camaro is serving us just fine over here," _Steve commented.

"_I'm sure it is,_" Charlie replied as he got into the car. _"I doubt this car is quite as war-ready as yours."_

"_Well, it didn't have my vision for upgrading," _August retorted.

Fiona shook her head as they drove out of the garage. "Who are the werewolves we are going to help?" Fiona asked. "Are they Jackson, Isaac, and Ethan?"

"No, they wouldn't want our help," Jack sighed. "I haven't heard much from their pack other than their alpha dying to Remus and Romulus. I had reached out to them after the attack, but they were closed off and decided to stay out on their own."

"Why would the others not want your help?" Charlie asked.

"The Republic hasn't exactly been held in high regards since the attack. Some even blame us for it happening, or for not warning everyone of the potential danger—and for not stopping it."

"You did everything you could," Fiona said.

"But I don't blame them," Charlie added. "It's irrational, but when you are attacked like that and lose so many close to you, it's easy to find someone to blame." Fiona looked back at him for a moment, surprised. _"We blamed the Republic back home for our losses—Not saying it wasn't warranted—but, it's something people just naturally do."_

"Charlie's right," Jack stated. "We've slowly been trying to earn everyone's trust back. It's been hard with our lack of numbers, but we try to respond to every distress call we get."

"How often do you get called out?" Charlie asked.

"Since the attack, not that often. But in the past few months, we've gotten a couple. We think a family of hunters from a different region has entered the area, but we aren't sure who they are yet."

"Any signature?"

Jack shook his head. "None that we have found. They've been making mistakes though, something hunters not familiar with our creatures would do. Using wolfsbane on Trolls, for instance."

"You'd think any experienced hunter would know that wouldn't work," Fiona commented.

"I've been trying to do research on new families or families that have lost a large number of their members and may not be able to do proper training—" Jack stated before trailing off.

"And?" Charlie asked.

"I haven't found anything," the alpha admitted.

"_Leonard should be able to figure it out if we can find a sigil or other signature," _Fiona thought to Charlie.

The beta nodded and the trio drove in silence for a while, listening to the radio as they traveled through Switzerland.

"Do you know anything about the Ghost Riders?" Fiona asked Jack, breaking the silence as the sun started to set. The alpha glanced over to her, surprised. "Of the Wild Hunt. The storm originated here and we were wondering if you knew anything about it."

"I'm not very familiar aside from the fact that Odin created the storm to cleanse the world of men."

"I thought the other mythologies were just that," Charlie stated.

"No," Jack replied, shaking his head. "While the main conflict that forged the Republic was the battle against the Olympians, other pantheons tried to follow their lead. Lycaon and his allies fought off all of them and ended the threat in one go."

"So, Hrungnir may know more about it then?" Fiona asked.

"Possibly. I know of someone else who has studied it a bit, they live in Norway. What did you want to know about the Wild Hunt?"

"Well, a couple of months ago we were able to divert it away from Beacon Hills after fighting off the Ghost Riders and a Nazi werewolf," Fiona explained.

"What?" Jack gasped.

"We know that they are nearly unstoppable, but that they have a fear of banshees," Fiona continued.

"But, we weren't able to put a stop to it. We could on divert the course of the storm and save Beacon Hills. At the same time, we made it someone else's problem."

"We want to know how to stop the Hunt for good. So that no one else gets taken by it. Since we let it loose on the rest of the world."

"I've never heard of anyone besting the storm in the same way you did. Hrungnir or my friend may know more about it. I also haven't heard of a way to stop the storm, but if there is a way, we'll find one. I'll talk to them once we return."

"Thank you," Fiona sighed. The banshee suddenly braced herself on the dashboard and started panting.

Jack immediately pulled to the side of the road and Charlie jumped out of the back seat and flung her door open. "What is it?" Charlie asked, kneeling next to her.

"I—I don't know," Fiona panted, still bracing herself. "It's overwhelming—There is danger somewhere—I can't tell where—It's like it coming from everywhere."

"We should stop for the night," Jack stated. "I'll call Padraig and have the others come up to help us tomorrow."

"If her feeling is right, that pack could be in danger right now," Charlie warned.

"No—it's not tonight. There's too much that could happen—" she paused, trying to slow her breathing and turning to face Jack. "I think you're right. We should stop for the night."

The alpha nodded at her and Charlie reentered the car before they drove off to find a place to stay.

* * *

**August 6****th**** 7:00 CEST**

"Still haven't heard from Padraig?" Charlie asked as they prepared to head out the next morning.

"No," Jack admitted.

"Is that normal?"

"Mobiles can be spotty at times under the Colosseum. I sent an alert to our system this morning, they should get that and can fly out here."

"I guess we'll find out if they show up then," Charlie sighed.

"You have a bad feeling about this?"

"Fiona does—at least about something. I hope she's wrong and we can save what's left of this pack."

Jack nodded and the pair headed out to meet Fiona at the car. The banshee was sitting in the back seat already, studying a map of the area and trying to trigger a premonition. "We're about an hour out," Jack stated as he got into the car.

"_Feel anything yet?" _Charlie asked as Jack pulled out of the hotel's parking lot.

"_Nothing concrete. The feeling comes and goes—I don't understand why."_

"_Your mom had problems discovering her premonition when the Argent's attacked in Denver. They kept changing their plans so that nothing was consistent. Is this like that?"_

Fiona shook her head and looked at the beta. _"There just doesn't seem to be any plan. Like everything is just going to fall into place on accident."_

"_That doesn't make any sense,"_ Charlie thought. _"Hunters don't accidentally do things. That's how they get killed. Which would mean we wouldn't be in any danger."_

"_Now you see why I'm confused."_

"_Unless it's not hunters,"_ Charlie thought. "Did the call mention anything about what the pack was in danger of?"

"They said hunters were after them," Jack replied, looking back at the pair from the mirror.

"_So much for that,"_ Fiona sighed.

"So, what have the encounters with these hunters been like?" Charlie asked the alpha.

"Mostly unsuccessful skirmishes. No one they've faced has really been trying to fight back," Jack started.

"The attacks on the trolls?" Charlie asked

"And others. Most of the attacks have been against those who have made themselves somewhat known to the locals. A lot of people tried to keep Remus and Romulus out of their territories, to varying degrees of success."

"No surprise that this hunter family doesn't distinguish between friend and foe," Charlie scoffed. Jack shrugged in response as they pulled off the highway.

"You said mostly unsuccessful," Fiona muttered.

Jack paused for a moment, looking back at the banshee. "There was one successful—not so much a skirmish—more of a slaughter. A pack of werewolves was found a few weeks ago—we think they mutilated the corpses afterward—dissecting and studying them. Some had been tortured for a while before they eventually succumbed."

"Like they were gathering information," Charlie whispered.

"Everyone thinks it's a new family since they don't seem to know what they're doing."

"But?" Charlie asked.

"I think they are a revived family. The older families ran fronts to gain access to their arsenal. They could have fallen out of hunting until one of their descendants stumbled upon their secret past. That would give them access to firepower that a new family, or anyone else for that matter, wouldn't be able to get as easily, especially over here."

Jack pulled off to the side of the road. The Burg Eltz towered above the bridge in front of them. "I don't hear anyone inside," Charlie muttered, staring at the castle.

"No tours today," Jack replied, looking down at the surrounding forest. "They said they were going to hide here. Figured it would be safer with the amount of traffic."

Fiona stared over the trees, almost in a trance. "Fiona?" Charlie whispered, grabbing her hand. She shook her head slightly and the beta turned to Jack. "The second she feels something we need to grab this pack and get out of here."

Jack nodded and they started to head into the forest. They froze when they heard a werewolf's howl echo from behind them a few other howls joined in shortly after. "Let's go," Jack muttered, jogging toward the sound with the others following behind. Jack slowed to a walk and rested against a tree after running for a while. "I have a bad feeling," he whispered once Charlie and Fiona reach them.

Charlie looked to Fiona but the banshee just shook her head. "Why?"

"If they're hiding from hunters in the area, why would they howl?" Jack asked.

"'Cause they're scared and people do dumb things when they are scared," Charlie replied. "Maybe we should let them know that we are here too. The hunters might back off if they think another pack has shown up to help." Jack nodded and prepared to howl, but was interrupted by the other pack howling again. Charlie's ears twitched when he heard footsteps creeping near the sounds of the howling. "They're in trouble," Charlie stated and moved to sprint toward them.

"_Get down!"_ Fiona screamed in his mind before tackling the beta to the ground. A cacophony of gunshots went off and wood splintered off the trees around them.


	3. Alexandria

_Alexandria_

**June 15th 9:00 PM PDT**

Jay stared slack-jawed as he answered the door and saw Lydia and Malia in front of him. "Hello?" Lydia asked, waving her hand in front of Jay.

The werecheetah shook his head focusing himself. "What're you doing here?"

"We came to pick up Kaia," Malia stated.

Jay stared at the pair confused. "We didn't get to know Kaia much after she came to Beacon Hills, so we're having a girl's night," Lydia explained.

"Yeah, I can tell that you guys don't really know her that well," Jay commented, smirking at them.

"I'm sorry?" Lydia asked, crossing her arms.

"Kaia isn't really into 'girl's night,'" Jay explained using air quotes.

"Hmm, that's strange," Kaia stated from behind Jay, causing the werecheetah to jump. "And here I was thinking that I was the one who asked to have a 'girl's night' with them."

Lydia smirked back at Jay before spinning around and heading toward her car. Malia whipped around after her. "You're going to paint your nails and watch movies at a slumber party?" Jay asked the kitsune sarcastically.

"I know," Kaia gasped. "How dare I have a slightly normal life every now and then while things are calm."

Jay opened his mouth to respond, but closed it and just smirked at the kitsune. "Well, have fun then," he replied. Kaia narrowed her eyes on the werecheetah for a moment before heading out after the others.

"_You know what that means?" _Zach thought.

* * *

"_They're going to get into trouble," _Leonard heard Kaia think to him as he pushed a patient into the ICU.

"_I know. Scott was already invited over there. He's going to make sure things are calm."_ He thought back. "GSW in the leg and lower abdomen," Leonard told Melissa and Stilinski once the other nurses left the room. "And, according to the nurse, the brightest blue eyes she's ever seen."

"Werewolf?" Stilinski asked.

"Or werecoyote?" Melissa added.

"I'm not sure," Leonard admitted. "We'll have to wait until he wakes up."

"Is it a hunter?" Stilinski asked. "Or just a random attack of some kid?"

"No wolfsbane from what I can tell," Leonard admitted as he examined the boy. The wounds were already starting to heal, but not fast enough to push out the embedded bullet. "Should probably be investigated as an attempted homicide either way."

"Well, if his eyes are blue, a hunter would make sense," Stilinski added. Leonard paused for a second and looked up at the sheriff. Stilinski pulled back a bit. "If their code is to hunt those that hunt us, then it just makes sense."

Leonard shook his head and returned to the body. "A werewolf could have killed someone in self-defense, or had no other choice—"

"Or for fun," Melissa corrected, joining Leonard in examining the boy.

"And then choose not to when brought in?" Leonard asked. "An attempted murder is still an attempted murder, no matter what the victim had done in the past."

"Depends on how recent that past is," the sheriff reminded him.

"No identification, no known contacts," Melissa muttered as she looked at the chart. Stilinski started to close the blinds on the window, peaking out to ensure no one was watching.

"A possible lone wolf," Leonard said before gesturing for Melissa and the sheriff to stand back. "Let's wake him up."

"_Are you sure about this?"_ Kaia asked.

"_It should work in theory,_" the werelion replied before shoving his claws into the back of the boy's neck. Black tendrils slowly started to crawl up his arm After a few moments two flattened pieces of metal pinged on the ground and Leonard gasped as he removed his claws from the boy's neck.

The boy sat up, his eyes glowing bright blue and his fanged mouth open and about to roar but Leonard clapped his hand over the boy's mouth. Leonard's emerald eyes locked with the boys as a roar rumbled in the back of his throat. The boy's eyes dimmed and shifted to back to green as he relaxed.

"What's your name, son?" Stilinski asked.

The boy looked around the room. "O—Oliver," he stuttered.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Stilinski asked.

Oliver stared at the sheriff for and swallowed. "Maybe we should give him a minute since he just woke up," Leonard suggested, noticing Oliver's hesitation.

"We're not going to leave him alone in her just to break out," Stilinski pointed out.

"It's an interior room with no windows, the only exit is through the door," Leonard argued. "We should let him rest."

"Leonard's right," Melissa sighed. "Let him recover and we can talk to him later."

The sheriff stared between the two of them before sighing and leading the others out of the room. "I want an armed guard at his door at all times," he told one of the deputies.

"You think that's necessary?" Leonard asked.

"We can't take the risk, he has blue—"

"That we don't know where they came from," Leonard protested.

"It's better to be safe than sorry," Melissa told the werelion.

"He's scared," Leonard stated, calming down. "He was shot and now he has a gun right outside his door, with the sheriff suspecting him of killing someone when he is likely the victim."

"We shouldn't give everyone the benefit of the doubt," Melissa cautioned. "There are bad people out there, supernatural or not."

"We just need to figure out more about the kid, then I can ease up some," Stilinski added. Leonard looked back at the door as a deputy moved in front of it with a shotgun.

* * *

Kaia jumped as Malia threw her book across the room. "This is stupid," the werecoyote grunted.

Lydia sighed before retrieving the book. "It's not stupid, it's trigonometry," she stated setting the book back on the bed next to Malia. "And it's the only class you're struggling with."

"Which is why I'm going to fail summer school and be stuck in school forever," Malia complained.

Kaia looked up. "What are you planning to do after you finish summer school?"

"Nothing. I'll be stuck there forever," Malia repeated.

"Okay, hypothetically what would you do?" Kaia asked, rolling her eyes slightly.

"I don't know," Malia shrugged. "Probably get out of Beacon Hills. Find some cute boys or something.

Malia smirked slightly as she looked into space. "Well, you'll never find any if you can't pass trig," Kaia commented moving to join the pair at the desk. Malia glared at the kitsune as she looked at the notes. "That's why we're here," the kitsune reminded her.

"Thanks for not telling Jay," Malia sighed. "I don't like that Leonard knows."

"Well, he knows trig better than I do."

Lydia stiffened a bit as her eyes widened. "Did you feel that?" she gasped.

Kaia froze and looked at the banshee. "No, what did you feel?"

"I don't know," Lydia exhaled. "A chill—like you get when you think someone is watching you."

Kaia nodded at Malia before removing a dagger that was strapped to her leg. "Do you carry knives around everywhere?" the werecoyote whispered. Kaia ignored her and nodded at the window before turning off the lights.

"Guys, it's just a—" Lydia started but Kaia shushed her and moved to the window.

"See anything?" the kitsune asked.

Malia shook her head slightly before her eyes started to glow bright blue. "Nothing," Malia replied.

"Stay here," Kaia whispered to the both of them before stepping into the hallway. She slowly walked through the house; her hearing intensified by the pack's senses. She exhaled after searching the entire house and put her knife away before returning to the others. "Nothing's here," Kaia told them, turning on the lights.

"I think it was just a freak feeling," Lydia said dismissively.

"I'd rather be safe than ambushed."

"Maybe it was a premonition," Malia suggested.

Kaia looked at the banshee and raised an eyebrow. Lydia looked at the kitsune before turning to Malia. "I don't think so—" she whispered. "Usually I can tell if someone is in trouble, but this was just an overwhelming feeling."

"It's still probably worth looking into," Kaia stated. "Let's figure this out, it's not like anyone's life is endangered by Trig."

Lydia rolled her eyes as Malia cheered and tossed the book back on the bed, pushing Lydia ahead of them.

* * *

"I thought this was going to be a party," Mason stated. "Where's the music? Beer? Other people?"

"There's no time for that," Jay announced pointing at Scott, Mason, Corey, Liam, and Hayden as they were sitting on the couch in front of him. Zach pushed in a whiteboard and Jay flipped it over dramatically. "We have just a little over two months to plan the greatest summer before we have to go back to our last year of hell—school."

"I already graduated," Scott reminded them.

"You're only here 'cause you're a cool narc," Zach told him.

"I'm not a narc."

"Scott, buddy," Jay said, pointing to his own head. "We got the link."

Scott opened his mouth the reply, but closed it and sat back on the couch. "First up, we have lacrosse," Zach stated, pointing at the board.

"Your awesome fun summer plans involve playing lacrosse?" Corey asked.

"Exactly," Jay replied pointing to the chimera with the marker before circling the word lacrosse. "We had a great time playing last year and think it would be more fun to play when people aren't being taken by cowboys on horses."

"That's definitely something we can do," Liam stated, nodding at the pair. "I don't see why—"

"Then, we have the part you've been waiting for," Zach stated going to remove a section of paper covering part of the board.

"Finally," Hayden sighed.

"Training," Jay announce once the word was revealed. Mason, Corey, and Hayden groaned. "But not any training, the fun kind. Pushing ourselves to the limit and getting into the best fighting form and the fastest we can be for the next big threat to come our way."

"I'm out," Hayden said, throwing her hands in the air.

"Yeah, honestly, this isn't exactly what we expected," Corey added as he, Hayden, and Mason got off the couch.

"I think you've been around Leonard too much," Mason commented.

"And speaking of," Jay announced as Zach blocked the others from leaving. "When Leonard is working and Kaia is out doing these 'girl's nights' we get to throw the wildest parties this town has ever seen."

"Or we could practice more lacrosse," Scott suggested with a shrug. Jay and Zach narrowed their eyes at the alpha and Liam leaned toward him with a look. "Or maybe not."

* * *

Leonard walked into Oliver's room and fully closed the blinds that Melissa and Stilinski were looking in through. "They want me to figure out who you killed and why," Leonard told the boy as he turned to lock the door. Oliver's eyes widened slightly as he watched the werelion move across the room. "Honestly, I'm not concerned about that, are you?"

Oliver shook his head hesitantly, "N—No."

Leonard nodded and moved closer toward, shifting fully. "I'm Leonard, I'm a werelion," he said calmly. "What're you?"

"Werecoyote," Oliver almost whispered.

Leonard nodded his head. "Interesting, I thought they were a bit rarer," the werelion went to check Oliver's wound but paused. "May I?" Oliver nodded and Leonard lifted the fabric covering where the wound once was, revealing no marks. "No scaring, that's good."

"You know about others?" Oliver asked.

"Just one—Technically two."

"Technically?"

"She isn't a werecoyote anymore, and she's currently in jail. We aren't exactly close friends."

"The other one?"

"Went to school with one."

"Which one?" Oliver asked quickly.

Leonard hesitated for a moment, looking at the werecoyote. "I don't want to reveal who. For their safety." Oliver nodded slowly and relaxed a bit. "Do you have anyone we should call? Family or—"

"No, I'll find them when I'm let out."

Leonard nodded slightly. "Well, we need some information before we can let you go."

"I thought you weren't going to ask that," Oliver scoffed.

"I'm not. But could you tell me what happened? How you got shot."

Oliver turned back to Leonard, still tense. "I don't remember a lot," he admitted. "It was dark, I was running home when I was clipped in the leg. I looked up and was shot again before I could shift, in my stomach. I think I saw someone or something. Like I said, it was dark. I wasn't able to shift and see with my other eyes, and I was hit by something in my back and—"

"We didn't notice anything in your back. Get up," he ordered. Oliver was shocked at first but stood and turned away from Leonard. "Continue," Leonard stated, examining Oliver's back.

"After that, I went unconscious, and then I wound up here."

"No wound back here," Leonard sighed. "Do you think it was a hunter?"

"Like a deer hunter, maybe?" Oliver said shrugging. "It wasn't a wolfsbane bullet."

"But something knocked you out. Could I borrow some blood to run some tests?" Leonard asked. "After that, you'll probably be good to go."

"Yeah, anything to get out of here," Oliver sighed, pulling up his sleeve.

Leonard nodded before rummaging through the nearby drawer. "You sound like you have a pack, or a family or something," Leonard said as he was laying out his material.

"It's not something I want to—"

"It's fine, I understand. I'm part of a pack and know of a couple of other packs in the area. I can give you my information and if you wind up in danger or anything, we might be able to help."

"Thanks, but I'm sure it was just someone hunting deer who got spooked by me sprinting through the woods. I just want to get back to my family."

"I'll give you my number anyway," Leonard stated, inserting the needle into Oliver's vein, causing the werecoyote to tense slightly. "Best case scenario, you never need it. Worst case, my pack and I might be able to help you out."

"Sure," Oliver whispered as he watched the werelion fill a vial with his blood.

"You're a born werecoyote?" Leonard asked, noticing Oliver's amazement.

"Wha—Ho—," Oliver stammered.

"It's a multi-sample blood collector," The werelion continued ignoring Oliver. "No blood flows through until I want to draw and stops when I'm done. It's pretty common, which would mean this is probably the first time you've wound up in a hospital. So, it would make sense that you were born into a family of werecoyotes."

* * *

"Is this really necessary?" Lydia sighed as Kaia led them into the school.

"If it's a premonition that faded, we should figure out where you think something might have happened or would have happened. There could be some kind of threat in the area that we need to investigate," Kaia explained.

Lydia huffed and looked back to Malia. "Hey, it gets me out of trig," she replied with a shrug.

"Fine," Lydia sighed. "I'll look for a minute. But I'm sure it was nothing."

"It's not going to take long. Maps have worked with Fiona, so we'll just see if that triggers anything. And if nothing pops up, then we'll just go back," Kaia told her as she pushed open the library doors. "Luckily, Coach is horrible at locking this place up."

"Seriously, how has this place never been robbed?" Malia wondered.

"I think people are more concerned about the other weird stuff that happens around here at night and know to stay away," Lydia replied.

Kaia chuckled slightly as she pulled a tube out from one of the shelves. She dumped the rolled sheet of laminated paper out and spread it across one of the tables. "Beacon Hills county," the kitsune sighed, holding a marker out for Lydia. "Anywhere you feel something has, will, or is happening."

Lydia rolled her eyes before taking the marker and staring down at the map. The annoyance dropped from her face as it went blank. She casually reached down and put an X on the map in the middle of the preserve. Her hand returned to her side as her gaze drifted across the map. Just as before, she reached down and drew an X at the hospital. Kaia looked up at Malia in shock before the pair returned their gaze to the map. Lydia's face scrunched briefly before her eyes glanced to the other side of the map. Her hand darted forward and she drew an X on Eichen House.

"Still think it's nothing?" Malia asked as Lydia started blinking down at the map.

"Scott and Jay are heading to search the preserve. Leonard said he'll investigate the hospital," Kaia stated.

Lydia continued to stare at the map. "What if—" she whispered before drawing lines connecting the three points.

"That's more than half the town," Kaia stated. "Triangulating like that would only work if we had a smaller area to work off of. We would already know if this was something town-wide."

"I don't exactly want to search Eichen," Malia stated. "And Lydia is the only one who can get through to the closed unit."

"Not if Zach meets us there," Kaia reminded her. "He'll search the closed unit and we can just be there for backup."

* * *

"Try to keep up," Jay commented as he sprinted out of the house. Zach shook his head before launching into the air, soaring back over the house toward Eichen. Jay glanced over and saw Scott keeping pace with him.

"I guess we'll just stay here then," Mason sighed from the doorway as he and Corey met with the others. The werecheetah chuckled before lurching ahead once they reached the tree line.

* * *

"I've got to go," Leonard stated, standing suddenly.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked as he slid off the bed and drifted toward the back of the room.

"My friends think that something back is going to happen here. I'm going to make sure you get out," the werelion stated.

"How did they tell you?"

Leonard smirked at the werecoyote. "It's my secret." Leonard turned to the door and flung it open. "The others are—"

"I know, Scott just called," Melissa explained, putting her phone away.

"Have them sweep the floors. Call me if anything is spotted," Leonard ordered Stilinski.

"Hold on, what're you gonna do?" the sheriff asked.

"Make sure Oliver gets out safely without being attacked again."

"And you think I'm going to let you walk out of here with him? What if he is the danger Lydia sensed?"

"He's not," Leonard stated. "He hasn't lied to me yet. He isn't a danger to anyone. You need to sweep the hospital."

"I don't take—"

"You can search for whatever the threat actually is, or you can stop me," Leonard stated, flashing his emerald eyes at the sheriff for a moment. Stilinski's jaw tightened for a moment before he stepped back and radioed for the deputies to start sweeping through the hospital.

The werelion nodded for Oliver to follow after him. "You better not be wrong," Stilinski warned before Leonard and Oliver ran toward the exit.

* * *

Zach folded his wings as he landed next to the others in Eichen's courtyard. "Why do I feel more uneasy about this place than the last time we were here?" the chimera asked.

"'Cause Eichen is a terrible place where only bad things happen," Malia replied, looking up at the building.

"I don't really feel anything here anymore," Lydia muttered

Kaia shook her head. "Even I have a bad feeling about this," she said, almost in a whisper.

The group turned as red and blue lights flooded the building. "You didn't think Zach would be the only person I'd bring in," the banshee stated, turning back to the pair as Parrish exited his squad car.

"You're sure about this?" the deputy asked.

"Not really," Malia stated.

"At the very least, it's keeping us out of trouble," Zach commented, turning his attention back to the building.

"Lydia had a feeling that led here and the other areas that usually spell trouble for us. That's a good enough reason for me to at least want to investigate," Kaia told them before walking forward.

"Doctor Fenris, can you sign these discharge papers for Lisa's release tomorrow?" They heard one of the nurses ask as Kaia pushed open the doors. "I'm sorry, visiting hours are over," he stated as the group walked in.

The Doctor held his hand to the nurse. "What can I help you with?"

"I've received a suspicious call and would like to have a look around," Parrish told him.

"Particularly in the closed unit," Lydia added.

"You'll have to come back during visiting hours. We don't have a closed unit," the nurse replied.

"Didn't you get a hole drilled into your head in the closed unit while you were here last year?" Zach asked, turning to Lydia. "And then a doctor attacked and injured me," he added, looking back to the doctor in the lobby.

"Then you already know your way there," the doctor stated, glaring at the group. Kaia nodded and led the others toward the basement stairs. Zach and the others followed her lead. "I don't like them," Zach heard Doctor Fenris mutter as they descended the steps.

"_What a twist. The doctors here don't like us," _Zach thought to Kaia.

"_You should have done a better assault last time," _Kaia replied.

"_We did the best we could," _Fiona told her.

"We'll wait here," Kaia told them, stopping Parrish from crossing through the gate. "Burning all the mountain ash would give us away."

"But—" Parrish started.

"Don't worry," Kaia told him, snapping a flame into the palm of her other hand. "I'll be able to bring out the hellhound and accelerate the burning if we need to get in right away."

"I don't like this plan," Lydia stated.

"Then wait here," Zach told her, passing through the gate. "I can get out if need be, and I trust Kaia," he added before rounding the corner. Lydia shook her head slightly before heading after him.

"You're sure about this?" Malia asked, staring at the empty hallway in front of them.

"Zach has more training than the last time you guys were down here. So has Lydia. I trust them. We'll be able to reach them before things get out of their ability to control it now that we know how to get past the mountain ash."

* * *

"_You haven't found anything out there yet?"_ Leonard thought to Jay as he led Oliver into the preserve.

"_Nothing. I think Lydia's feeling is a dud."_

"_At least it let me get Oliver out of there."_

"_Without tearing through Stilinski," _Charlie interrupted. _"What the hell is going on with you?"_

"_I don't. It was something about his look. I just had some feeling, or something," _Leonard stated, confusion mixed in his thoughts.

"Where are we going?" Oliver asked, jogging behind the werelion.

"Rendezvousing with one of the members of my pack who can keep up with you better at a full sprint. He'll be able to make sure you make it through the woods safely before returning home."

Jay slid to a stop in front of the pair. He paused and looked Oliver over. "You sure he can keep up?" Jay asked, turning to there werelion.

"Should be just as fast as—other werecoyotes."

Jay rolled his eyes before stiffening a bit, Leonard noticed the hairs on his arm standing on end. After a second the werecheetah vibrated as he shook his muscles loose. "Weird chill," he whispered, looking around. "Strange for the season though."

"I didn't feel anything," Leonard stated.

Jay shrugged. "The others are still looking, but I've combed the whole place, nothing is here. Let's go," he added, nodding at Oliver.

Oliver nodded. "Thanks for the help," he told Leonard before sprinting off.

Jay scoffed. _"Fast my ass,"_ he thought back to the werelion before running off and quickly catching up to Oliver. Leonard watched the pair weave through the trees, with Jay running slightly ahead of the werecoyote.

* * *

"_See anything?"_ Kaia thought to Zach after a few minutes.

"_Usual creatures that have a murderous need or have been otherwise overtaken by their abilities," _Zach commented. _"Some of them are actually really sad," _he added flatly.

"_But nothing that could be dangerous?"_

"_Not to anyone immediately. I'm sure some of them could do harm if they get out. We're heading back"_

"Damn it," Kaia muttered, banging her fist against the gate. She heard the others gasp as one of her hands missed the metal rail and passed through the open gate

"There's no mountain ash?" Malia asked as she walked toward the open gate. She slowly brought her hand to the barrier before effortlessly pushing through. The werecoyote and Parrish shared a look before rushing through the door, with Kaia following after them.

"Oh my god," Lydia gasped as Zach shrieked. Kaia nearly ran into the pair ahead of her as they came to a stop. Kaia saw Zach's white eye return to normal as his talons and wings started to retract.

"They never replaced the barrier here," Kaia explained once everyone recovered from the shock.

"Barriers come down," a man who was huddled in the corner of the room next them stated. "Monsters of fear get out. We all die. Everyone."

"Can we get out of here?" Zach whispered.

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea," Lydia muttered, looking at the man for another second before following after the group.

* * *

**July 7****th**** 9:00 PM PDT**

Jay rushed forward, slamming his lacrosse stick into Zach as he sprinted for the goal. "This isn't fair," Zach complained, pushing himself off the ground as Scott and Liam ran to help him to his feet.

"It's not that bad," Jay told him, spinning the lacrosse stick in his hand after he scored.

"You get your full speed, they get their full strength and speed," Zach said, pointing toward Scott and Liam. "I barely get to use anything."

"I'm no expert, but I think flying is against the rules," the werecheetah stated. "And you think this is my full speed?" he added with a chuckle.

"You're still going to be faster and stronger than the other players," Scott told him before turning to Jay. "We aren't supposed to be using our abilities while playing anyway."

Jay shrugged. "Playing in slow motion was getting boring."

"Scott's right, it's not fair to everyone else who is working hard to be on the team and it risks us being exposed," Liam chimed in.

"Yeah, yeah," Jay replied rolling his eyes. "I'm just trying to have some fun before practice actually starts."

The lights on the field turned off around them, covering the field in darkness. "Well, no one is around now, and even is someone does come by, they won't be able to see us," Zach stated, pulling off his shirt. "How about we play a game with full power, just to see how things go."

Jay smirked, his amber eyes glowing in the dark a pair of red and yellow eyes started to shine ahead of him. "Twenty-foot max height?" Jay asked.

"That should be fine," Scott replied.

"Then game on," Zach stated, flying into the air.

* * *

"Good evening," Leonard stated cheerfully when he ran into her in the hospital parking lot. "Ready for another fun night?"

"Your enthusiasm is going to run out after a while," Melissa replied, shaking her head.

"Only if there is nothing to be done, but between all my research and anyone who comes in, that won't be for a very long time."

"Hopefully we don't have anyone come in who can help you in your research," the nurse commented as they made their way inside.

"Yeah, that would be unfortunate for them," Leonard commented with a shrug. "I've been trying to figure out Oliver's blackout still. Nothing turned up in his blood, but I'm coming across a few things that if I had known to look for them, might be the cause."

"You're hoping that someone else gets attacked like Oliver?"

"Hoping is a wrong word. And I'd prefer it to be an animal or something."

"You're checking all animal deaths in the county?"

"No, but Deaton is keeping an ear to the ground and Marin is helping with the research. Having a hunter who isn't preoccupied would be nice though."

"Yeah," Melissa sighed, staring off into space.

* * *

"I just don't get it," Malia growled tossing her book to the bed. Lydia looked up at the werecoyote as her eyes started to turn blue. "This is stupid."

"It's the last thing you have to do, then you can graduate and be done forever," Kaia replied, not looking up from her book.

"I just feel trapped!" Malia growled, fully shifting.

Kaia jumped off her chair as Lydia pushed herself off the bed. "Maybe we should take the night off," the banshee suggested.

"I might have an idea," Kaia stated.

"I have a better one," Lydia told her, smirking slightly.

* * *

Melissa sighed while at her computer and stopped typing. "Something wrong?" Leonard asked, looking up from his tablet.

"I shouldn't," she whispered looking back at the werelion.

"Nothing interesting is happening right now. Research is turning up nothing. I could use a distraction if you have something else on the mind."

Melissa bit the inside of her cheek and thought for a second. "Remember when we were in the Ghost Rider's train station."

"Yes! I still can't believe the gun Chris used vanished with the Riders. I would have loved to study that!" Leonard exclaimed, straightening up.

"Yeah," Melissa sighed. "Never mind."

"Oh," Leonard replied raising his eyebrows. "You mean—"

"Like a said, never mind."

"No, no, no. It's fine. I mean, my pack is pretty much the reason that he skipped town and disappeared," the werelion replied flatly. He looked over at Melissa's look. "I mean, I'm sure that's not the only reason." The nurse raised her eyebrow at him. "Oh, gods. That's not what I meant."

"Right," Melissa stated, turning back to her computer. "Like I said, never mind."

"Sorry, I'm just really bad at the whole relationship thing," Leonard stated gesturing with his arm.

"Aren't you dating Kaia?" she asked, turning back to him. "Things don't seem to be going poorly there."

"No, not really."

Melissa rolled her eyes and turned around again. "I don't get how you're all so young and in healthy relationships." Leonard tried to suppress his laugh but failed. "What?" Melissa snapped, spinning back around.

"There is nothing healthy about August and Steve's relationship. All of ours are pretty messed up."

"_Careful," _Kaia warned him.

"Kaia and I are probably the most functional compared to the others. Aside from being attractive, she made me feel safe from my family and other threats now," Leonard paused as Kaia explained her reasoning for liking him. "And apparently, I give her solace from her combat orientated near-emotionless upbringing and give her a chance to actually express her emotions."

"Sounds awful," Melissa muttered.

"Charlie thinks Fiona needs protecting all the time from outside threats even though she is more than capable, and Fiona is always concerned with what is going on in Charlie's head, even though he's nearly mastered every coping mechanism in existence. So, they're constantly on the lookout for the other.

"Again, just terrible," she replied, shaking her head.

"But August and Steve are the worst. Nearly everything in their life revolves around combat due to their upbringing. When they're on top of things, they are able to take on the world. But when they are opposed, they would destroy the whole world to get to each other. I mean, August and Steve were in a fight and Steve took on a whole flock of harpies to win August back, and—"

"Honey, I'm going to stop you right there," Melissa said reaching out and placing her hand on his knee. "These don't sound like unhealthy relationships to me. Maybe a bit dysfunctional, or unorthodox. But overall, communication seems to mostly be there, everyone has the best interests at heart, complement each other, and seem to be willing to move mountains to be together."

"I mean, if you look at it that way, then I guess so," Leonard said with a shrug. "It's just hard to look at it with how messed up all of our childhoods were."

"Y'know, I don't think I know much about you and your pack's lives before coming to Beacon Hills."

Leonard sat up in his chair. "Well, for starters. I'm pretty sure my whole family wants me dead right now."

* * *

"Thanks for waiting," Corey commented as he ran on to the field.

"You were too slow," Jay replied lobbing the ball at the chimera as he ran past. "Think you can keep up while you're here?"

Corey glared at the werecheetah for a second before smirking and disappearing. "You're on," Corey's voice called out.

Zach folded his wings and slammed to the ground. "Now I'm at a severe disadvantage again," Zach stated.

"Dude, you're the only one who can fly," Liam told him.

"I'm also the only one without super hearing and smell."

Corey faded back into visibility. "I don't have super hearing, smell, or speed. And I can't fly. So, really, I'm at the disadvantage."

Zach grunted at the other chimera. _"I can help you hear him," _Charlie thought to the chimera. _"Just don't tell Jay."_

Zach smirked over at the werecheetah, who returned a confused look, before launching back into the sky.

* * *

The thud of the bass could be heard through the door. "I don't think we'll be able to get in," Kaia stated, looking at the line. "We're not even old enough."

"It's an eighteen plus night, so we'll get in just fine," Lydia told her.

"I'm not," Kaia stated. Lydia turned to the kitsune and gave her a disapproving look. Kaia let out a sigh. "Fine, yes, I have fake."

"I need to get with August about getting one of those," Malia stated.

"Alcohol does nothing for us, so that wouldn't be as useful as you'd think," Kaia replied.

Malia grimaced at her before they reached the bouncer. "ID's." the large man stated. The trio handed them to the bouncer. He shined his flashlight on them before pointing it at Kaia. He looked back down and shrugged before returning the IDs and giving Kaia a wristband. They nodded at him before heading inside.

The doors open and a cacophony of sounds filled the air before the bass dropped again. Kaia flinched a bit before heading inside. The three made their way to the bar and Kaia ordered a glass of vodka. "What happened to us not being able to get drunk?" Malia shouted over the music.

"This is out of spite," Kaia stated, raising her glass. "For bringing me here!" She clanked her glass against the pair's waters before downing the glass. The kitsune grimaced and gagged fanning her mouth. Lydia chuckled at her before taking a sip of her water. "Gods it burns!" she shrieked.

"Good thing you're a fire kitsune," Lydia commented, earning her a glare once Kaia recovered. They looked up and noticed Malia staring off into the dance floor. "Is something wrong?"

"I think I found a cute boy," she stated before stalking toward the dance floor.

Kaia squinted after her as she walked away. "It's like she's on a mission."

"Yeah," Lydia sighed. "She won't tell you, but she's actually a bit broken up about Jay. She was angry—very angry for a while—probably still is. I think she wants to just get over him now though."

"Y'know, I thought there was going to be something there. I was happy for Jay," Kaia sighed. "But, he was devastated when he found out she was sleeping with Nathan. He wanted to make her remember him so bad. It just never happened."

"It might be good for them to stay apart. Malia still has a lot of the world to experience."

"Jay still has a bit of growing up to do as well," Kaia admitted. "They'll find someone though, I'm sure."

* * *

Zach's stick collided Corey's invisible form as he flew to the ground. He heard the chimera grunt behind him as he slammed into the ground. "What the hell?" Zach heard Jay mutter, causing him to smirk as he looped back around. Liam gathered the bouncing ball and flung it to Zach. The chimera caught the ball and dropped it into the net before Jay could beat him to it.

"Guess I'm just lucky," Zach told the werecheetah with a shrug.

"_We found her!"_ Steve thought.

"We've got to go," Zach and Jay shouted at the same time.

"What's going on?" Scott asked as the pair started to rip off their gear.

"Steve and August found Kate, they need our help. We have to get back home so we can focus on them."

"Get in the Jeep," Scott ordered them. "I'll drive you back. Think you can focus enough on the drive?"

Jay nodded at him. "That should work. Thanks."

The group stripped their gear and haphazardly shoved it all into their bags before running to the Jeep. "Whose car is that?" Zach asked. "It wasn't there before."

"I think it's Nolan's," Liam told him. "He's on the team too. Must have stopped by to study or something."

"Steve's on the chase and could use the speed," Jay told them, throwing his bag into the back before rushing to the backseat and closing his eyes.

"Think he saw us?" Cory asked, looking at the car.

"Nah, we would have known. Plus it was dark, so he probably couldn't even see anything," Scott replied. Cory and Zach shrugged and Cory started off toward his car with Liam. "Hey, don't forget real practice starts next week. No powers allowed."

"Alright, we'll see you then," Liam shouted back before running off.

"Let's get going," Zach said, shoving his stuff in the back. The chimera hopped in next to Jay and nodded at the alpha as he started the car. Zach closed his eyes and started to lend his strength to Steve.

* * *

"That was probably our darkest day, but also when we were able to come together all the others and take out those two mons—I have to go," Leonard stated, jumping to his feet and cramming his tablet into his bag.

"What? What's wrong?" Melissa asked, getting to her feet.

"Steve and August need help. Someone else has been hurt, but Steve is after Kate. So need to get home so I can help fast."

"How about a spare bed?" Melissa asked. "It'd be a little closer."

Leonard nodded. "That should work." The pair rushed down the hall, earning a look from a passing nurse. _"Yellow wolfsbane is a rare, yet powerful strain of wolfsbane. In a liquid form, it can paralyze the target. At a high enough dose, it will slowly, and painfully, kill the paralyzed target. But as a plant, it can reverse the effects of a werewolf's bite."_

Leonard shook his head and Melissa gave him a look. "Steve needs to get back to the nagual."

"That's a new one for me, what's a nagual?"

"South American shapeshifter. Sorry, I have to focus now," he told her before closing his eyes.

* * *

"Guys," Malia gasped returning to the group after a while. Sweat was starting to drip from her face. "This is Marc, listen to him."

"Je t'aime ma belle," the young man Malia had pulled over to them shouted over the music.

"Wow," Lydia commented. Malia grinned before pushing Marc away. "He's French. Cute butt," she added as he walked away.

"I think I want to find a nice French boy after this class is over," Malia stated with a smile.

Kaia jumped to her feet and glanced back at the others. "I need to go—Charlie says Paris is nice though—but Steve and August need help."

"Paris sounds nice," Malia stated as Kaia darted off.

"_If you get it before she does, she'll be easier to kill," _Kaia thought after Leonard explained yellow wolfsbane to Steve.

"Let's go," Kaia heard Lydia say from behind her. "What can we do to help?" Lydia asked once they exited the club and caught up with the kitsune.

"I need to be able to focus and help them out," Kaia explained. "Charlie and Fiona are rushing to find a place right now, but they were at the top of the Eifel Tower were Steve reached out. So that's going about as well as you would—"

"My car," Lydia stated interrupting the kitsune. "You focus, I'll drive."

"Okay," Kaia sighed and headed toward her car.

"Malia!" Lydia shouted behind her.

"But, cute French boys," Malia pleaded.

"You'll find all sorts when you go to Paris after summer school. Now, let's go."

"Fine," Malia groaned and followed them to the car.

* * *

Zach felt the Jeep come to a stop and heard Scott turn toward them. Black tendrils started to crawl up his arm as Steve healed the man Kate attacked. His and Jay's shoulder relaxed in unison once the ordeal was finished. "They got close," Jay muttered, almost as a growl

"You really wanted Steve to get her," Zach stated, looking at him in shock.

"Steve promised," Jay grumbled.

"What did he promise?" Scott asked.

Jay jumped and looked up at the sound of Scott's voice. "The Argent's killed the man who raised me," Jay explained. "Steve promised he would get find them and make them pay. But—" Jay stopped suddenly, clenching his fist. The werecheetah jumped out of the Jeep just before a set of headlights flooded the drive behind the Jeep.

"Jay!" Kaia called out to the werecheetah as she hopped out of Lydia's car and sprinted after him.

Zach shrugged at Scott when the alpha glanced to him. "I wasn't there for any of that. Leonard says that did happen though. Jay made a mistake and the guy paid for it. And it kinda happened again with Thane."

"Oh," Scott gasped.

"Malia, this might not be the best time," Lydia warned, stopping the werecoyote from entering the house.

Scott quickly exited the car and Zach followed after him. "Lydia's right," Scott told her.

"But—"

"We can have a movie at my place," Lydia suggested. "No homework will be involved."

"Do, you want to come?" Scott asked Zach as the trio started to leave.

Zach shrugged a bit. "Yeah. I don't know how much of what's going on is really my place."

* * *

"Jay!" Kaia called up the stairs after the werecheetah.

"I'm fine," he shouted back down at her.

Kaia sighed before heading up toward his room. "You're not fine, you're angry," she said calmly. "And I get that. But you have—"

"He promised," Jay growled, stepping out of his room. "He promised and you all made him leave her. And now she is out there again running free when he was so close.

"He had to in order to save someone. Protegimus illos qui nequeunt protegere se," she recited to him.

"And how many people will she kill now that she is loose again?" Jay spat back.

"How many would she kill if she killed Steve?" Kaia retorted. Jay opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't. "Even with all of our strength, they were still equal. That fight could have gone either way."

"Not all of our strength," Jay mumbled. "We just have to be ready next time."

Kaia looked at him before shaking her head. "How the hell are we going to do that?"

"I don't know!" Jay shouted, his voice breaking. "Maybe I should have gone with."

"You deserve a fun summer," Kaia admitted. "Steve and August will catch her. They'll be able to find her again and they'll both be able to fight her together. Then they'll be unstoppable. You know them."

Jay nodded shakily before collapsing into Kaia. "I know," he sobbed, holding her tight. "I know."

* * *

"Hey, when do you guys leave for school?" Malia asked, looking up from her phone that she had been staring at for the entire movie.

"My flight is on the 15th, in the morning," Lydia told her.

"I move in on the 15th," Scott told her. "I was planning to drive down the night before and stay over. I could give you a ride to the airport."

"A road trip to a non-deserted town would be nice," the banshee replied.

"Done!" Malia announced after pressing a few buttons on her phone. The other turned to look at her. "While you two are heading off to school. I will be soaring to the land of mysterious handsome men," she stated, gesturing.

"What?" Scott asked, sitting up in from the couch. "Where would you even go for that?"

"Paris," Lydia said, rolling her eyes slightly. "She met a French boy at the club tonight."

"A French man," Malia corrected her.

"Something is wrong with our parties if you go to a club, last minute, and have that much fun," Zach commented. "You should work on that," he added, turning to Scott.

"Wha—Why me?" Scott asked.

"You're the alpha. It's your responsibility to raise moral."

"You could also find a French boy and bring him to your party," Lydia suggested.

"French man," Malia emphasized.

"I highly doubt anyone else would enjoy that," Zach told them.

"I don't know, Mason and Corey might enjoy some eye candy. Brett is single again. So many girls from school would be into too," Malia commented.

"And who knows," Lydia added with a shrug while looking at Zach.

"You're right," Zach stated. "Who knows. Not you," he added, chuckling as he made his way toward the door.

* * *

**July 24****th**** 11:00 am PST**

"Hey, Mom, it's me," Kaia said, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she moved through the house. "I just wanted to say thanks for helping us out with the Ghost Riders a while ago. I'm just wondering if you've found anything on how to stop them completely. Fiona and Charlie and going to see if Jack knows anything about stopping it, but call me back if you can think of anything. Also, call back if you haven't. I haven't heard from you in awhile and wouldn't mind chatting for a bit. Anyway, call me back."

The kitsune sighed as she hung up her phone. She pushed the bookcase aside, revealing the pack's armory and started to inspect the weapons. She scowled slightly when she noticed the two missing swords Steve and August had taken with them. _"Hopefully those holes can be filled again soon,"_ she thought. _"For Jay's sake." _

She started to examine her katana but stopped when she heard her phone ringing from the other room. "Hello?" she asked.

"_Kaia!"_ Yoshiko's voice answered from the other side.

"Oh, Mom, I just—"

"_Kaia, don't worry about the Wild Hunt," _Yoshiko told her before static started to muffle her voice. _"Going—is dangerous—stay safe—when I can—"_

The call ended and Kaia glared down at her phone before tossing it on the couch. _"She should know its not our way to just ignore other people's safety by now," _she scoffed.

"_She's not wrong,"_ Leonard told her. _"We saw how dangerous and unstoppable the Wild Hunt was for ourselves."_

"_Doesn't make diverting it to become someone else's problem is right. I just wished she could have given a bit more of an answer. Or at least talked for a bit instead of telling me off and hanging up," _Kaia sighed before returning to inspect the weapons.

* * *

**July 24th 12:00 pm PST**

"Alright," Jay announced, standing on the coffee table. "We need to get everything we need to throw the best party this town has ever seen. Corey and Mason will help the DJ set up over there," he stated, pointing toward the corner of the room. "Zach is getting the beer and other spirits for the kitchen. And Scott, Liam, and Hayden are going to be spreading the word to everyone about the Best Beacon Hills Summer Bash of the Summer," he announced, spreading his arms out as he said the title.

"Creative name," Hayden muttered, leaning into Liam.

"Got a better name?" Zach asked her.

"Call it what it is. It's just a party."

"The best party!" Jay exclaimed, pointing toward her. "Now break!"

"Hold on a second, what are you doing to get this all set up?" Liam asked.

"I'm providing the venue," the werecheetah explained.

"But, if we're having the party here, you're not really doing anything then," Corey explained.

"You can't dance with all this furniture around, and someone needs to clean the place."

"He is pretty fast with cleaning," Scott told them, shrugging slightly.

"What're you going to do with all the furniture?" Mason asked. "It's not like shoving it all to the side is going to make that much more room, or look nice."

Jay rolled his eyes and pointed toward the ceiling. "We've got vacant rooms upstairs."

"And you're going to move it all up there by yourself?" Hayden asked.

Jay turned to her, moving his mouth to try and find a response. "I could stay and help," Scott stated. "I'll see if Lydia can reach out to the other seniors. Might actually get more people," he added with a chuckle.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Jay shouted, hopping off the table. "Don't forget to tell her the name," he added, whispering to Scott.

* * *

"What kind of person even thinks putting those words together is a good idea for a party name?" Lydia asked, staring at her phone.

Kaia leaned over to see. "Yeah, that sounds like Jay," she sighed.

Malia scoffed looking up from her book. "Let me guess. It's something like the 'best Beacon Hills summer bash of the summer?'" she asked, with mocking air quotes.

"That's actually exactly it," Lydia muttered looking up at the werecoyote.

Malia rolled eyes. "Whatever. It sounds lame. I just can't wait to leave for Paris."

"Oh no," Kaia whispered.

"What?" Lydia asked, turning to the kitsune.

"Charlie is getting into a fight."

"Again? Seriously? I thought they were supposed to be on a relaxing vacation," Malia groaned.

Kaia shrugged before closing her eyes.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Scott asked when Jay dropped his half of the sofa and ran toward the kitchen.

"Charlie is getting into a fight a minotaur!" Jay called out from the kitchen.

"A what?" Scott asked from the other room before dropping the sofa.

"A minotaur!"

"_Make me some, I'm almost back," _Zach thought to Jay as the werecheetah threw some popcorn in the microwave.

"_I swear to god if you don't focus," _Kaia warned before Charlie's voice grunted in their heads and black tendril shot up his arm.

"_Okay, fine," _Jay sighed, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"_Give me everything you've got, Jay," _Charlie ordered.

Jay shook his head when he heard Zach laugh in his head. "Did you say a minotaur?" Scott asked, reaching the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's so—" Jay started before the door slammed open.

"_We've got a bigger problem," _Leonard told the pack.

"Steve and August have been captured by some hunters," Zach announced, rushing into the kitchen.

"Who?" Scott asked.

"The Calaveras or something," Zach stated.

Scott's eyes widened. "I can try to call Argent. Maybe he can call them off."

"_Focus on Charlie," _August ordered before grunting.

Jay nodded and closed his eyes. "What's wrong?" Scott asked, seeing Zach's jaw drop and his eyes widen.

"I thought August was in trouble, but the problem seems to be solved. Arya is letting them go."

Scott nodded slowly. "So, a minotaur?" Scott asked.

"And a centaur," Zach added. "and troll, and a dryad."

Scott looked back to the focused werecheetah before turning back to Zach. "I'm going need a play by play," the alpha muttered with a slight smirk.

* * *

**July 24th 9:00 PM PST**

"What's the point of this party again?" Malia asked, trying to pick between outfits.

"Zach and Jay want to boost their popularity at school," Lydia replied, rolling her eyes.

"And to help the rest of the lacrosse team like Liam more as a captain," Kaia added.

"Yes, definitely altruistic."

"What if I don't even want to go," Malia sighed, tossing the tops she was holding on the bed.

"You don't have to, but it is the last goodbye party for the seniors as well," Lydia replied. "Everyone is heading out soon."

"Or already has," Malia mentioned, searching through her closet for another set of clothes.

Lydia hesitated for a moment before noticing and fixing a smudge of lipstick. "You can stay here and dream about Paris boys, or you can come out and possibly dance with any cute boys at the party."

"Who knows, maybe there might even be a Parisian boy there too," Kaia commented, earning her a scowl from Malia.

"Paris men," Malia grumbled, turning back to the mirror.

* * *

"Isn't there a party at your house tonight?" Melissa asked as Leonard came into the hospital.

"There is, which is exactly why I am here tonight."

"You're not afraid of them burning the place down?"

"Kaia will be there. Between her being responsible and a fire kitsune, I think we have all the bases covered."

"Fair enough," the nurse said with a shrug. "Well, there isn't really anything exciting happening here right now."

"Good," Leonard stated. "Should give me plenty of time to read."

* * *

Jay's head bounced with the music as he surveyed the crowd from the stairs. _"I figured there would have been more people here," _he thought to Zach.

"_You can barely move through the place as it is," _the chimera replied.

"_There's barely anyone in the backyard, there is still plenty of space."_

"_Judging by the traffic it seems like you're going to get your wish," _Kaia told him.

Jay pumped his fist slightly, smirking, before heading as Zach came inside and met him on the way. The pair began dancing erratically, causing the others on the floor to move out of their way. _"I think we're being judged,"_ Zach said, nodding toward the corner of the room.

Jay followed the chimera's eyes and spotted a pale, skinny, blonde-haired kid who immediately turned away from there werecheetah's gaze. _"Nah, I think Nolan is just shy and in awe of how cool we are."_ Jay nodded for Zach to follow and headed toward to boy. Jay clapped Nolan's shoulder, causing the boy to jump. "Are you enjoying the party?" Jay shouted over the music.

Nolan hesitated before shaking his head vigorously. "Yeah," he mustered. "Are you?"

"Flying high, man," Zach shouted, going in for a hi-five. The little color on Nolan's face disappeared and he froze, staring at the hand with wide eyes. "Leave me hanging," Zach commented, before nodding his head. "That's cool. It's cool, whatever," he mumbled before wandering away.

"You're a goofy dude," Jay stated, lightly punching Nolan's arm. The boy flinched, immediately grabbing the spot Jay hit. "Get on the floor and have some fun. Or grab a drink. Enjoy yourself." Jay shouted before heading back to the floor. The werecheetah heard the door open and turned to see Malia walk in with Kaia and Lydia right behind her. He ducked into the crowd as her eyes started to scan the room.

* * *

"So, what's your plan for when the Stilinski and his deputies come to break up this party?" Lydia shouted to Kaia.

"Apparently that is going to happen," Kaia told her. "Jay started researching some old cases Stilinski had and found a possible lead on the other side of the county. Fewer patrols in this area, and no one is near enough to call and complain."

"I'm not seeing any cute boys," Malia stated, interrupting the others. Lydia stopped the werecoyote when she tried to walk back out of the house.

"I'm sure something will—" Lydia started before reaching for her phone. The banshee answered it and stepped back outside. "Salut," Kaia heard Lydia mutter as she walked away.

The kitsune looked back toward the banshee, but she had vanished into the crowd of people pouring in from the street. "We should head for the yard," Kaia told Malia. "It's going to get crowded here soon."

Malia nodded and shoved her way through the crowd.

* * *

"You made it," Jay shouted, spotting Brett and Lori in the back yard.

"Figured we'd scope out this year's competition," Brett commented before spotting a guy stumble out of the house and fall on the ground. "Looks like it'll be an easy year for Devenford Prep again this year."

"You may be able to keep up with the average player, maybe even Liam. But there's no way you can keep up with me."

"Is that so?"

"That's weird," Lori chimed in. "Last lacrosse game I saw you at, I'm pretty sure you got your ass kicked."

"Well, you missed the time I actually played and had to fight some—actually that didn't go well either," Jay muttered, remembering last year's game. "But, we've been practicing all summer and are ready to kick some ass of our own."

Brett chuckled. "Well, I'll look forward to beating you on the field then."

"We'll see about that," Jay stated, turning back to the party. He spotted Malia dancing with a dark-haired guy. "Who's that."

"That's Marc," Brett told him. "He's a foreign exchange student. Went to Devenford for his senior year and wanted to stick through an American summer."

"_Malia met him at the club. I guess this is the last day he is here,"_ Kaia explained.

"Is that so," Jay muttered. He scanned the crowd for a minute before turning to Brett "I've got to go."

"Alright," Brett stated. "See you when the season starts!"

Jay pushed past the crowd before making it to Sydney. "Hey," he gasped, squeezing through a couple. "Would you like to dance?"

"Um," Sydney started, looking at the werecheetah. "You're not exactly the best—"

Jay opened his mouth to correct her, but bit his lip instead. "Maybe you could teach me some moves."

Sydney nodded slightly before shrugging. "Alright then."

* * *

"Looks like things are starting to wind down," Kaia stated as she took a sip of her water.

Lydia looked over to the kitsune. "Not interested in trying vodka again? The cheap stuff is always better."

Kaia glared at the banshee before the pair started to laugh. "I still can't believe you tracked down Marc."

"Well, Malia's been doing great in her class. And now she'll have a contact person for when she goes to Paris."

"You just have a plan for everything, don't you," Scott commented as he joined them.

"I try to," Lydia replied, smugly. "Speaking of, where are we at with that list of all the supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills."

"What?" Kaia asked.

"For my mom, so she can get someone to help them, if necessary. Don't worry, she already has yours and Leonard's number."

"Lot of people on the Deadpool seem to have moved on, I've been adding others that I've found to the list. Leonard met a werecoyote named Oliver, but everything about his family was kept secret. So, I don't have a whole lot to go on."

"We'll get what we can before we leave. We can update it every summer when we come back home."

Scott nodded at her as they saw Malia and Marc walk past. Kaia noticed Zach watching the pair from the other side of the room. _"Stay out of it, Zach,"_ she warned the chimera.

* * *

"This isn't bad," Sydney commented as she looked around the room. "Um, which one is—?" she asked, pointing between the two beds.

"Oh, that one," Jay said. "The other one is Zach's."

"Ah," she sighed, sitting on the bed. "It's a shame about his parents."

"Yeah," Jay said, sitting next to her.

"Speaking of, your parents seem to be pretty awesome for adopting all of you guys."

"Yeah, they're great," Jay replied before springing to his feet. "Want some music, or something?" he asked, fumbling with a set of speakers.

"No, it's fine," Sydney replied as Spandau Ballet's "True" started to play.

"Sorry," Jay muttered, fumbling with the speakers again.

"It's fine," Sydney said, pulling Jay back toward her and kissing him.

"_Stay out of it, Zach," _Jay heard Kaia say in the back of his head.

"_I just can't believe it,"_ the chimera replied.

Jay shook his head and Sydney pulled back. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No, sorry," Jay whispered quickly before returning to embrace her, slowly lowering her toward the pillow.

"_Are you serious!"_ Zach shouted in his head, showing the pack an image of Malia and Marc kissing.

"Ow!" Sydney shrieked, pushing Jay off her. The werecheetah's eyes widened when he saw blood dripping from her lip. He quickly covered his fangs with his hand as spots started forming on his arm. "What's going on!" she called out, falling on the ground as she tried to escape the bed and stop the bleeding.

"It's alright, it's just a cut. Sorry!" Jay responded trying to calm her.

"What's wrong with your arms!" she called, backing toward the door.

"Is everything alright?" Kaia asked as she rushed into the room.

"No!" Sydney yelled. "Look at his arm! And he bit me with something!"

"Let's get you patched up, must have been an accident," Kaia said, rushing Sydney out of the room and closing the door.

Jay clenched his clawed fist and punched the wall as he heard the last few people leave the house.

* * *

"Think you'll find him in Paris?" Kaia asked as everyone started to clean up downstairs.

Malia shrugged. "Depends. He said he wanted to introduce me to his family, and I think that may be too much for me right now."

"How awful," Lydia commented as she connected her phone to speakers.

"Oh, I love this song," Malia stated, bobbing her head to the beat.

"You plan that one too?" Kaia asked her.

"No, this song is just good," Lydia replied.

"Not a fan," Zach muttered.

"Oh, come on," Scott groaned, nudging the chimera before starting to dance a bit himself. "It's got a nice beat."

Kaia shook her head as she watched Scott and Malia dance past each other to toss cups into the other's propped open garbage bag.

* * *

**August 6****th**** 11:00 PM PST**

Jay and Zach left the school after the first night of practice and scanned the parking lot. _"I think everyone has officially left," _Jay thought to the chimera.

"_Not quite," _Zach replied, gesturing to a dark-skinned woman stepping out of her car on the far end of the lot. _"Weird place to park."_

"_Faculty door is back there, probably some teacher getting ready for school again," _Jay replied, faking a gag.

"_Well, she's interrupting the race. We're not going to be in top shape to beat Brett this way."_

"_We can just start from the preserve," _Jay sighed, walking across the parking lot. _"Ready?"_ he asked once they reached the tree line. Zach nodded at him. _"Go!"_

Zach spread his wings and launched himself through the branches as Jay darted off in between the tree.

* * *

"Still no word from your mom?" Leonard asked, bringing Kaia a cup of coffee.

The kitsune shook her head as she took the cup. "Have you heard anything from Oliver? Or figure out what caused his blackout?"

"No, there has to be something there, I just can't figure out what it is," Leonard sighed. "But it was such a random attack and there hasn't really been anything else since then." He took a sip of his coffee before shrugging. "Maybe it was just an actual hunter after deer or something."

"It was out of season, maybe they were careful and covered their tracks."

"Must have been."

* * *

Zach heard Jay grunt and speed up directly below him. The chimera chuckled when he spotted an opening for him to dive through ahead. He flapped his wings hard to gain a bit more air to reach the hole.

"_Get down,"_ the chimera heard Fiona scream in his head, causing him to lost his balance and collided with a branch. He started to spiral down through the tree as he heard a gunshot echo through the woods. He groaned when he landed on the ground, feeling his arm snap on impact as wood splinters rained on him from above. He looked up and saw Jay pushing himself off the ground.

"_Just scrapes," _Jay explained rushing toward Zach. _"Fiona, what's going on?"_ the werecheetah asked.

"_Fiona?" _the pair heard Kaia ask.

"_I can't connect with Steve or August either," _Zach thought, locking eyes with Jay.

"_Get back here now," _Leonard ordered. The pair nodded and began rushing back toward the pack house.


	4. Rubicon

**Rubicon**

**A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back! This chapter was a rough one for me and took a long time for me to get through. It might be my longest but I would have to double-check it. Also, I've had a dark almost year since the last time I posted and that kinda bled through in some of the scenes. I kind of like it, so I think I'm going to leave it in and follow it from now. I had to change the rating on this story for it though. Also, I'm still up in the air about how I feel about the chapter as a whole as it is a very set up chapter, but I was trying to avoid the common pitfalls of it seeming tedious or unnatural. But this is the last of the Prologue Chapters and I will be moving into the main story next. I'm hoping that I can get it written as my plan for that is almost completely set in stone, which was why I'm able to publish these. I know while writing these chapters I started moving some things around and noticing some other differences that I'm going to incorporate that were not originally planned as well. **

**As always, let me know what you think of this chapter. Especially with some of the darker scenes since I'm hoping to bring those into the coming chapters. I hope you enjoy it! **

"Look out!" Jack shouted as Charlie crouched next to Fiona. The alpha flung the pair behind the trees as gunfire echoed through the air.

The pair scrambled to their feet and lean against a tree next to Jack as the alpha dug a bullet from his shoulder. "There are too many for us to fight head-on," Charlie muttered, listening to the approaching footsteps.

"I know," Jack grunted. "I just need to buy you two enough time to find the other pack."

"Sorry," Fiona said, glancing at her father. "But that isn't going to happen." The banshee rolled off the tree and blasted a scream toward one of the approaching hunters. The bullets parted around her blast and shattered into the trees before the hunters grunted and fell to the ground.

"The pack is right behind them, let's circle around them," Charlie whispered to Jack as Fiona hid behind another tree. The beta thought the same message to Fiona and she nodded back to him.

"And how the hell are we going to do that?" Jack asked as Fiona launched another scream far to the right of the hunters. The alpha shook his head and started looking for an escape

"Go now," she hissed as the sound of cracking filled the air. Charlie pushed Jack away from the tree as another tree fell in between them and the hunter.

The trio skirted around the approaching hunters and quickly made their way toward the sound of the werewolves. "Oh my god," Charlie gasped when he saw a pair of werewolves laying on the ground with their hands behind their backs. The bodies had decayed significantly already, but the scent was being covered by a wolfsbane vaporize nearby. A set of speakers and a soundboard had been set up near the bodies, blasting the howl of a pack of werewolves.

"It was a trap," Jack muttered, staring at the bodies before looking to Fiona. "You need to get out of here."

"We all do," Fiona told her father, looking back toward the hunters as their echoed shouting headed away from them.

Charlie nodded and the other two ran back. Charlie paused as he spotted a cell phone next to the soundboard. He ran forward and grabbed it before running to catch up with the others. The trio started to make their way back toward the car but came to a stop when they neared the hunters. Charlie leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. "They're heading for the car," he whispered. We're going to have to run through them to beat them to it," he added, opening his eyes and looking to Jack. "Would you be able to keep up if Jay loans us some speed?" Charlie asked.

"Probably, I can at least dodge the hunters," the alpha replied.

"Okay, on three," Charlie stated before counting down with his fingers. _"Give us everything, Jay."_

The three sprinted off, passing the searching the hunters on their right. Charlie saw Jack soar ahead of them, without noticing that Fiona had fallen behind. _"Charlie, help!" _Fiona thought to him as she tucked behind another tree and screamed at an approaching hunter.

"Damnit, Jay," Charlie grunted, looping back around to reach Fiona. She launched another scream as he swung back around and grabbed her by the waist. She tucked her feet up, allowing herself to be taken off the ground, and ducked her head in Charlie's chest. He sprinting continued through the swarm of bullets. He nearly stumbled as a bullet bore into his shoulder blade, but rallied himself when he looked down at the banshee.

Charlie broke through the tree line and headed toward the car's open hatch. Jack started to pull off as Charlie approached, the beta dove into the trunk, clutching Fiona as bullets shattered the windows around them. "What the hell happened back there?" Jack asked, speeding down the road as Charlie slammed down the hatch.

"I don't know," Charlie panted. The beta gagged and choked for a moment before spewing blood out of his mouth.

Fiona's eyes widen and she slammed down the back seat as the beta collapsed. She flipped Charlie over and found that his backside was riddled with bullets.

* * *

The back of Steve's neck burned as the alpha tried to push himself off the ground. His effort was thwarted as a blunt metal jammed into his back followed by a surge of electricity. Dust from the impact blinded the alpha as a second baton slammed into his back. "Dad? what the hell are you doing!" Steve heard August shout as the hunter exited the car.

Steve open his eyes when he heard August draw his gun and through his watery eyes saw a figure approach the hunter from behind. He gurgled out a warning as the electricity coursed through his body, but could not communicate to the hunter. The alpha could do nothing as the figure whacked August in the back of the head with the butt of a rifle.

"That's not a part of the deal, Carlos," Marcus shouted at the assailant, stepping over Steve and dropping his baton. Steve heard clicking above him and the grip of handcuffs around his wrists as the electricity moved from his back to his wrists. The other baton fell at his side while the paralyzing electric current still surged through his body.

"He's friends with the beast, no?" Carlos asked, his rifle's barrel resting on the back of August's head.

Steve heard a click above him as Tiberius stepped over the alpha with his pistol pointed at Carlos. "One more move and you and this deal are done," the hunter warned. "We're only here to pick up the wolf. He is to stay unharmed."

Carlos glared at the hunter before turning to look at the Camaro. "Your son's life for his car," he stated, turning back to Tiberius. "You might be able to kill me, but you haven't a chance to kill us all before one of us kills you and your sons. So, what's it going to be?"

"Fine," Tiberius muttered. Carlos smiled and raised his rifle, but still kept a foot on August's back. "Marcus, move him to the side of the road so these idiots don't hit him as they drive away."

Steve saw Marcus glare at his father before moving over to the unconscious hunter. As the younger hunter neared, August pushed himself off the ground, causing Carlos to stagger away. Marcus flew backward with August's kick as August returned to his feet. August wobbled slightly as he rose to full height, but steadied himself and turned to face his father. August opened his mouth to speak, but was only able to let a gasp escape as he was tackled from behind.

The hunter grunted as Carlos's full weight landed on top of him. The man slammed his fist into the back of August's head, and his head bounced off the dirt road. Carlos's fist slammed down a second time, causing August's vision to go black briefly. The fist rose to strike a third time, but stopped when Marcus put his pistol to the man's head. "If I have to tell you again, I'll kill you," the young hunter warned.

Carlos laughed at the boy. "Fine. I just want to make sure we aren't followed." He smirked, pulling out a pair of handcuffs and locking them on August's wrists before attaching another pair to August's ankles. He grabbed the hunter's battered face and held it to look up at Steve directly in front of him. "Now you're just like your friend."

"Fuck you," August choked out through swelling lips as he saw Steve crying on the road, unable to move.

"Say goodbye," Carlos chuckled, letting August's face drop on the road.

"Get in the car and drive away," Tiberius ordered, pulling Carlos off of August.

"Yeah, let me just collect—"

"We'll bring him to you," Marcus told him. "You aren't handled to deal with him if those handcuffs fail."

Carlos glared at the hunters before grinning again. "You can see the set up your friend gave us to hold him," the man chuckled a bit before whistling and heading to the Camaro. Two sets of headlights flooded the road and two more SUVs pulled onto the road behind the Camaro. Carlos waved his hand in the air before speeding off down the road.

"Why are you doing this?" August groaned as Tiberius and Marcus brought him to the side of the road. "Why are you working with those psychos?" he repeated, raising his voice.

"It'll make sense soon," Tiberius muttered. "You weren't supposed to get hurt."

"You can't follow us right now," Marcus whispered as he removed a cork from a vial. "But, you'll understand later."

August felt a drop of cool liquid on the back of his neck before losing all feeling below his neck. Tears started to roll down his face as what remained of his family walked back toward Steve. "I hate you!" August shouted as loud as he could. "I fucking hate you!"

The pair flinched slightly, but continued forward to retrieve Steve. August watched as they paralyzed the alpha before throwing him over Tiberius's shoulder. Steve's head lolled down allowing the pair to look at each other's eyes one last time before they disappeared into the tree line. Another set of headlights flooded the road before pulling out next to the hunter and driving off after the others.

August screamed after them, his face in the dirt, unable to even struggle against his restraints.

"You need to pull over and help me," Fiona told her dad as she tried to apply pressure to Charlie's wounds. "Something needs to kickstart the healing process and I can't reach the others. They must be in danger."

Jack looked back in the mirror and nodded before turning down a side road. He sped down it for a moment before pulling off to the side and running to the back. Fiona pushed open the hatch and the alpha leaned in and started to scan the beta. "It's not wolfsbane," Jack muttered. Charlie laid motionless with a glassy stare as Jack moved him closer to him. The alpha reached down and checked for a pulse. "It's slow, but it's strong," he whispered staring down at him.

"Kanima venom," Fiona muttered. "A high dose and inside his body." The banshee grabbed Charlie's arm and held it up. She let it flop to the ground for a second before grabbing it again. "Last time Charlie was this injured Stiles mentioned pain helping," she whispered. "Maybe he was right." She glanced down at his arm again and moved her hands to his elbow. She jerked her hands and felt the bones snap.

Charlie's eyes exploded with blue light as the beta roared, his body attempted to roll over, but was still paralyzed A small smile appeared on Fiona's face as the wounds on his back started to close. One by one, the venom laced bullets started to push out of his body. A few moments later, Charlie started to move his arms and legs. "Good thinking," Charlie muttered reaching over and snapping his arm back into place.

"Why wouldn't they use wolfsbane?" Fiona asked, looking to Jack.

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again to think. "Because they wanted to take us alive," Charlie stated, his eyes widening. "They had taken the last pack alive and tortured them until they died."

"The number of bullets they fired didn't exactly seem like they wanted us alive," Fiona told him.

"Spray and pray," Jack muttered, getting up and quickly moving to the driver's seat. "They're bad shots and know it. They should have been able to hit more than Charlie, and with that number, they should have hit him more than seven times."

"We already knew they were amateurs," Charlie told him.

"No, it's something more. They've been active for months, they should have been training and getting better," Jack explained. "It's like they had no training on how to not panic during a fight."

"So, not likely a resurrected family," Charlie said.

"We need to get back to Rome and figure this out," Fiona whispered. Charlie looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

* * *

"I'm going to find them!" Jay argued as he zipped around his room shoving clothes into a suitcase.

"We don't know necessarily know that something bad has happened," Leonard stated.

The werecheetah froze and turned to the werelion. "'Cause, in the past, our pack link breaking has always been a good thing."

"But it doesn't mean they can't handle it on their own," Kaia stated, stepping into the room. "This isn't a complete severing since we still have the link. I can still feel that they are alive too."

"And we don't know where they are right now," Leonard added. "We should wait for them to contact us and then we can decide what would be best for us to do."

"Last I checked, we were a democracy, not a monarchy," the werecheetah spat, dropping his clothes and closing the distance on Leonard. "We each get to make decisions—"

"And the majority decides," Kaia stated. "It's two against one."

"Two against two," Zach stated from behind the pair. "I'm not as familiar with the pack link, but it usually means something happened to Charlie or Steve."

"Or both," Jay added.

"And it isn't usually accidentally cut off," Zach stated.

"But we still don't know where they are—" Kaia started

"We know their last location," Jay replied.

"And it will take us more than half a day to get there," Leonard stated. "They know how to cover their tracks, so finding them would be next to impossible."

"And if this was a deliberate attack on them, then they know about us. If the attack failed, they could draw us out and then we'd be in danger," Kaia added.

"We should stay here," Leonard stated. "The immediate threat is over and they survived. Charlie and Fiona still have the Republic and August and Steve can make it back here together while we are able to make sure here is safe. They'll contact us as soon as it's safe to do so," Leonard told them.

"I'm going," Jay stated, heading toward the door. Kaia flicked out her staff and blocked the exit. "Really?"

Kaia glared at him. "Only if I have to."

Jay twitched slightly before sneering at the kitsune. "Sounding a bit like you mom right—" Jay started. Kaia's staff slammed into the werecheetah side, knocking him to the bed.

"Kaia!" Leonard shouted grabbing the staff and stopping her from striking Jay again.

"Fighting each other isn't going to fix anything," Zach stated quietly. The trio looked back at the chimera with raised eyebrows. "What do democracies do when they can't make a decision?" he asked them. The trio stared at him. "They compromise."

Leonard sighed before turning back to Jay. "We'll wait a week, then we can try to find them if we don't hear from them," Leonard said.

"To hell with that," Jay scoffed. "You guys wait a week."

"Why don't we just call them?" Zach asked. "They brought phones in case something like this happened."

"Fine," Jay sighed. The group headed down the stairs while Leonard retrieved his phone from his room.

The werelion dialed Steve number and it went straight to voicemail. He tried August's and got the same result. He tried Charlie and Fiona as well and both went to voicemail. "Now what?" Kaia asked.

"Well, they aren't going to have their phones on unless they need them," Leonard said, staring at the phone. "Which, hopefully, they realize they can't reach us from the link normally."

"I'm not going to wait a week," Jay stated.

"Forty-eight hours," Kaia stated. "Gives them a day to get away and heal, if they even need to, and a day to get somewhere to contact us from."

"That's still too long," Jay groaned. "The trail could be—"

"The trail will be cold either way," Leonard stated. "It'll give them time to get in touch with us."

* * *

August's throat burned by the time he was able to wiggle his fingers. He lay on the ground, staring at the rolled-over SUV as the rest of his body started to wake up. The black sky was fading into a deep blue by the time August was able to roll onto his back. His head felt like it was going to cave in as fresh blood leaked from his nose and left ear. He choked down some vomit that tried to escape his mouth.

He pushed himself forward and made it to his still bound feet before toppling over with a grunt. The hunter felt his body tremor in pain as he lay on the ground. He inhaled and exhaled shakily before rolling onto his back and trying to get back to his feet. He wobbled slightly before steadying himself and taking a few hops to get around the SUV.

The handcuffs on his ankles grabbed at the thick grass and the hunter fell face-first into the gore-soaked ground. Bile immediately flew from the hunter's mouth as the rotting smell flooded his nose. He tried to avoid spraying all over himself, but was still covered in the mess as tears started to fall down his face again.

August sniffed, holding back another deluge, and blinked the tears away so he could survey the mangled bodies ahead of him. He groaned and wiggled his body in position, pointing his head toward the nearest torso, and rolling back onto his back. He took a deep breath and brought his knees up, planting his feet on the ground near his bottom. The gore squelched beneath him as he slid his body toward the corpse. He grimaced, swallowing more bile before repeating the process. And again, turning to vomit after completing the slide. The hunter sobbed as he pushed himself backwards again, stopping when his head painfully collided with the wet shirt of what was left of the man behind him.

He raised his head and winced as he pushed himself into and over the torso, allowing him to rest his back against it. He started to pat what was left of the pants pockets and sighed when he found a wad of cash held together by a paper clip. He slid out the clip and started to bend it into shape as the splat of the bills hitting the ground caused him to gag again.

August looked down at his stained red, but free hand. He shook his head and started to work on freeing his legs. Once free, he slowly pushed himself to his feet and slowly made his way to the road. He looked down the road both ways, the orange light of dawn sent daggers through his eyes and revealed nothing useful. He bit his lip before looking back at the rolled-over SUV. He shook his head before shrugging slightly and crouched down, gripping between the front and rear passenger windows. He groaned as he tried to lift the car, feeling a sharp pain in his hands. The SUV budged slightly, but remained on its side. August exhaled as he squatted back down, reaching further under the car through all the grass. He groaned again as he tried to thrust his legs straight. The SUV shook slightly as the hunter's hands slipped off the window, searing in pain.

A bang echoed through the woods as August pulled back his now mangled hand, the skin beneath the blood was already turning purple. His body started to shake again as he looked up to the dent he left in the vehicle's roof. His shoulders heaved as he nearly fell against the SUV. After a series of ragged breaths, he was about to stop his body from shaking.

He looked back down the road in the direction that Tiberius and Carlos drove down and started to walk.

* * *

"No aftershocks have been reported since this today's surprise earthquake," a man stated on the radio as the group drove through the dark Roman streets.

"Dad, hurry," Fiona whispered, squeezing the sides of the seat in front of her.

Jack glanced back at her before nodding and speeding down the street. He parked outside the back entrance to the tunnels and Fiona sprinted inside. Charlie and Jack quickly followed, slowing to a stop as they reached the main chamber. Bits of green cloth showed through its new red coating were scattered throughout the chamber along with various bits of what was left of Padraig. An assortment of other parts laid on the gore-soaked floor. A new passage to the nemeton had been created. Daphne laid on the ground next to the tree stump with branches of wood sticking out of her back. The nemeton appeared unharmed despite the splintered wood surrounding it.

The trio turned when they heard a grunt from the other room. "Daedalus!" Jack shouted, running toward the minotaur.

The man chuckled slightly as thick, dark red, blood fell from his mouth, getting trapped in his thick black beard. "I'm glad you made it back," he grunted.

"What happened here?" Fiona whispered.

"We were attacked—hunters, yelling to get to the center," he stated in between gasps. "I shielded the other the best I could—They knew the tunnel system," he added softly before coughing up more blood. The minotaur's heartbeat was already slower than when they entered the room.

"No one else is dying today," Charlie interrupted, stepping toward him and grabbing his arm.

Black tendrils shot up his arm, quickly covering the arm in black as they continued up past his shoulders "Fiona!" Jack cried out as the banshee collapsed, the tendrils already covering their way up her face. The alpha caught her as she fell, slicing the back of her neck with his claws before gently lowering her to the ground. "Stop," Jack ordered Charlie as he approached the beta.

Charlie shook his head, closing his eyes as the tendrils started to crawl up his neck. He grit his teeth as he felt the tendrils pass over his jaw before he felt them slowly start to recede. He opened his eyes and watched Jack's arm turn black as well.

The pair gasped when they released Daedalus and Charlie rushed over to Fiona. "I'm fine," she whispered, squinting at the beta. He helped her sit up, cuddling her from behind as they sat on the floor.

Daedalus was still bleeding slightly, but his breathing became slower and easier as he turned to Jack. "I think they were trying to blow up the nemeton," Daedalus said, turning to Jack.

"You said they were yelling?" Charlie asked. Daedalus nodded at him and opened his mouth to respond but Charlie cut him off. "What happened after you heard them?"

"We rushed her to protect the nemeton. Daphne ran to protect the nemeton as the last line defense and the rest of us were supposed to converge here. Padraig was the first one here and saw the bomb. He rushed to disarm it, but a couple of hunters had been waiting. They ambushed him— His body was next to the bomb before we could even reach him. The rest of us were coming down from there," he said, pointing toward one of the tunnels. "I saw one of the hunters turn and pull out the detonator. I shielded the others the best I could and—and heard Daphne scream out in pain." The minotaur stopped speaking and looked into the room at the mess in front of him. "I don't think they were after the nemeton," he added, pushing himself to his feet and walking forward.

The others followed and Charlie helped Fiona walk. "If they knew the tunnels well enough to sneak through here, they would have known that this wasn't the room with the nemeton," Charlie said as they stepped into the other room. "They would have known what it would look like."

"It was a trap," Jack muttered, looking down at Daphne, "To bring you all to one place, knowing that this was where we would go to defend."

"What was the look on the hunter's face?" Fiona asked.

"He smiled just before pressing the button. But there was a beep right before the detonation and his smile disappeared as I turned around."

"Why?" Charlie asked, looking at the banshee.

"Accident," she muttered. "The spray and pray," she whispered, pushing herself away from the beta and looking to the center of the room. "A short delay, followed by a beep. His expression. It was supposed to be a timer and hidden. Everything happened on accident," she stated, turning to the others.

"Which means they weren't hunters," Charlie realized.

"They're amateurs, just like the ones in Germany" Jack whispered, looking around. "But how? Why?"

"I don't know," Charlie said. "I can ask the others."

"Something is wrong with the link," Fiona told him, causing him to look up. "It's why healing Daedalus almost killed us both."

"But we were still able to talk to each other," Charlie told her.

"Have you been able to reach the others?" Jack asked. Charlie shook his head after trying to think to the rest of the pack. "You haven't heard from them?"

"We need to call home, now," Fiona told him.

"Not here though," Jack told them. "If they knew the tunnels well, then there has to be a leak. Gather your things, you can call when we're safe. Daedalus, we need to figure out a plan moving forward."

* * *

Steve slammed into the backseat as the SUV came to a stop. The hatch opened and the alpha tried to call out to the two hunters through the duct tape gag they put on him. Tiberius shook his head and grabbed the alpha's elbow, dragging him toward the opening. Marcus took another dab of the kanima venom and dropped it on the back of Steve's neck.

"Bring him in quickly," Carlos shouted over the cheers of the other men. Steve watched as his Camaro was backed into a bullet-riddled warehouse behind Tiberius.

The alpha gasped as he was jerked out of the trunk, his legs slamming limp onto the ground and dragging behind him as Tiberius pulled him along. "Looks like you've seen some action here already," the old hunter stated.

"Ah, yes," Carlos replied, marveling at the warehouse. "We couldn't just wait around for you to show up. We've even taken care of La República for you."

Tiberius looked at the man. "Does Pedro know about that?"

Carlos shook his head, smirking. "No, he headed out to meet with you before we got restless and decided to do our own experiments."

"Well, Pedro asked me for this one in particular," the hunter stated, lifting Steve up. "I called him on the way and he said he wanted to be the one to dig into him. I'd wait for him if I were you."

Carlos smirked at the hunter. "We'll wait. For a while," he shrugged before looking down at Steve and glaring. He knelt down and grabbed the alpha's face. "Don't worry. We're going to have some fun while we wait." Carlos dropped the alpha's face back and rose back to the hunter's level. He snatched the alpha's other elbow and Steve felt himself waver to the side as Tiberius released him. "How about you come along, boy," the man added, looking at Marcus. "I may need a hand."

Marcus scoffed before following Carlos inside. Steve looked around and saw a handful of cars scattered throughout the warehouse as Carlos dragged him to a partitioned section of the warehouse. "Pretty basic setup," Marcus commented, examining the small section of chain-linked fence. A handful of wires led away from it and around another wall.

"Just wait," Carlos stated, dragging Steve up to the fence. "Give me the keys," he said, holding his hand out to Marcus.

The keys jingled as Marcus slapped them into the man's hand. Carlos removed the handcuffs from the alpha and started to bring his arms around to the front. "We're going to be taking those back," Marcus said, holding out another set of handcuffs. "If you want a pair like that you're going to have to get your own."

Carlos chuckled, taking the cuffs from Marcus and throwing the other pair on the ground next to the boy. "Of course." Steve saw Marcus bite his lip as he retrieved the discarded cuffs. "Why don't you remove the gag from our friend here," Carlos added as the sounds of chains clinking from above started to echo through the warehouse.

"Marcus, remember what we've done for you," Steve pleaded as soon as the tape was removed.

"Oh, I remember," Marcus told him. "I remember getting kidnapped by the alpha pack, the harpies, the fight against Remus and Romulus, and then you taking my brother and neither of you ever bothering to even contact us."

"I'm sorry, Marcus, there's just been a lot going on and I can explain it all if you just give me a chance—"

Steve was interrupted as Carlos struck the alpha's face. "Shut up," the man said. Before Steve could recover, the man pulled the alpha's head up by his hair. "No one is ever going to give someone like you a second chance. You're a monster." Steve glared up at the man as a hook descended between them. "Up ya go," Carlos said, smirking at the alpha as he looped the handcuffs through the hook. The clinking started again as Steve's limp body started to rise off the ground. "Hey, kid," Carlos said, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Read this for me."

Marcus took the sheet from the man and began to recite the words on it. "They're all yours. I've already had enough fun with them" he started. Steve's eyes widened as he turned to Carlos. The man was grinning as the alpha was raised into the air, his hands above his head. "What does—"

"Marcus, please, please help me," Steve begged, looking down at the hunter. The alpha felt his body start to tremble as another pair of men fed a chain around his abdomen and through the fence behind him, locking it in place.

"You always do find the best kids," Carlos replied, still grinning up at Steve as another set of chains went across his chest. "It's always worth it to do business with you," he continued as a third chain strapped his legs into place, his feet just out of reach from the ground. "I'll make sure they forget about you."

Steve's eyes glowed red and the alpha pulled against his restraints, roaring at the man in front of him. The alpha's roar turned into a yelp as electricity surged through the fence and chains causing his eyes to fade and his muscles to go limp.

"Marcus, we're done here," Tiberius said sternly, coming around the corner. Steve cried out in pain as another surge ripped through his body. "I like to keep my promises," Tiberius warned Carlos as Marcus approached his father. "Remember to keep him alive until Pedro gets here."

"Yeah," Carlos replied, not taking his eyes off the alpha, his grin not leaving his face.

Steve felt tears roll down his face as he watched the to Caesars walk out of the room, his sob was cut off by another surge of electricity.

"Here you go," one of the men who chained Steve to the fence said, handing Carlos a blade.

Carlos stepped toward Steve and sliced through the alpha's bloody shirt, nicking him with the blade. "What are you doing?" Steve grunted, sweat and tears dripping off his face. Carlos ripped the shirt through the chains, leaving the alpha's full abdomen exposed. The man tilted his head, looking at the alpha's chest, and ignoring his question. "S-s-stop," Steve spluttered as the man pinched a small piece of skin near the center of his chest and rested the blade on it.

"They say your healing factor stops with enough electricity," Carlos said before ripping the blade through the skin. Steve howled in pain as Carlos peeled the skin from the alpha's chest to his pant line, before slicing the tail end off. "I just need to see how much it actually affects you."

Steve panted as he tried to catch his breath, he looked down and saw blood dripping into a puddle beneath him. "Why?" the alpha choked out.

Carlos dropped the piece of flayed skin and it landed next to the puddle, ignoring Steve again. The man ran the back of the knife down the center of Steve's torso, stopping at the button for his jeans. "Maybe we'll even have some fun while we're at it," he added, looking up at the alpha again with a grin. Steve's breathing accelerated and his body shook as he looked at the man with panic in his eyes. The alpha choked out another howl as Carlos sliced another piece of flesh from his body. "Each time you talk, I'll take another piece," Carlos said, his smile fading. He tucked the knife into the alpha's waistband, the blade digging into his hip before turning and walking away. "Make sure he doesn't sleep," Carlos ordered the man who brought him the knife before disappearing around the corner.

Steve looked up at his arms tied above his head and started to sob through his panicked gasps.

* * *

"We aren't going to make it practice today," Jay told Scott over the phone. "Leonard wants our help—figuring something out."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" the alpha asked

Jay hesitated for a moment. "No, I think we can handle it."

"Alright, just let me know if you need anything. We'll see you tomorrow."

Jay tossed the phone on the couch and turned back to the others. "I'm not going to lie to him after time is up tomorrow," the werecheetah warned them. "I'd have no doubt that he would help us track down the—"

Leonard's phone started to ring, cutting Jay off. "Hello?" Leonard asked, answering it on speaker.

_"Thank the gods you're alive,"_ Charlie sighed on the other end.

"What the hell is going on?" Jay asked.

_"We were attacked,"_ Fiona told him. _"The Republic was attacked, and from the sounds of it, so were the other Republics."_

"Is my mom okay?" Kaia asked, snatching the phone from Leonard's hands.

_"We haven't heard, yet,"_ Charlie replied.

_"I'm going to keep trying to get in contact with them. We are going to go out and find everyone who hasn't checked in with us by tomorrow,"_ another male voice called out.

"Who was that?" Zach asked.

_"It was my dad,"_ Fiona explained. _"If we don't hear from your family soon, we're going to find them,"_ Fiona assured her.

"Which Republics have you heard from?" Leonard asked.

_"Siberia, Arctic, and African so far,"_ Fiona told them.

_"We tried to call August and Steve to see if they could check on the South American—"_ Charlie started.

"We haven't heard from them either," Jay told them.

The line went silent for a moment.

_"We are going to fly down there and track them down,"_ Charlie stated.

"I'm already packed and can—"

_"No,"_ Charlie said interrupting the werecheetah. Jay glared at the phone. _"We aren't sure what is going on right now. From what the others have said, the attackers are taking up posts by the nemetons. We haven't exactly figured out why though."_

"Who are the attackers?" Kaia asked.

The line went silent again.

_"We don't know,"_ Fiona admitted.

_"They're possibly amateur hunters, but this seems like a coordinated attack on the Republics,"_ Jack explained. _"We are at a loss for what's going on. I haven't heard back from Tiberius either, so I'm going to have Charlie and Fiona check on him, but I'd prefer if they had August and Steve as back up and so they can reestablish the link."_

"Any idea on what happened to the link?" Leonard asked.

_"No, we'll know more when we find Steve,"_ Charlie explained.

"So, you just want us to sit here and do nothing?" Jay asked.

_"No,"_ Fiona said_. "From the sounds of things, Beacon Hills hasn't been attacked yet."_

"Not that we know of," Kaia told her.

_"We think there might be one coming,"_ Charlie told them. _"But, we don't know when or how since no one watches over the nemeton as closely over there since the Hale House burned down."_

_"So, they might have just swept in and taken over,"_ Fiona added. _"We'd like you to search the area and see if anything seems off."_

_"Discreetly,"_ Charlie added.

"Great," Jay scoffed. "I'll call Scott."

_"Not yet,"_ Charlie told the werecheetah. _"This might just be a Republic problem, so we can keep Scott and the others out of it. We can let them have a normal life, go off to school, and let it be our problem. If you notice someone watching the nemeton there, or anything strange, then we can go from there."_

"Alright, we'll start looking around on our end and let you know. Call us when you land," Leonard told him.

_"Stay safe,"_ Fiona cautioned.

_"And Leonard,"_ Charlie added quickly. _"Make sure everyone else stays safe. You're in charge until we get back."_

Jay glared up at Leonard as the phone disconnected.

"Let's get going," Leonard told the group.

Jay sat in the chair while everyone else started to get ready. They paused and looked back at the werecheetah. "They have 8 hours to search by the time they land," Jay told the werelion, still not looking. "If they don't find Steve and August by then, I'm going after them."

Leonard scowled at him for a moment. "We can cross that bridge when we get to it. Let's make sure our friends here are safe first."

* * *

August neared a town as dusk started to roll through. He had moved into the treeline once he caught up to traffic, allowing him to skirt around the town unseen. He continued to scout around the outskirts until night fell. He continued until he found a hotel near the edge of the town and approached the back of the building. He peered around the corner and only saw two cars in the parking lot. He moved back around to the first window and pressed his ear to the glass. After a few minutes of hearing no movement, he slammed his elbow into the glass. He paused for a moment as the glass fell to the ground inside holding his breath as he listened for any other noise or movement. Hearing none, he reached through and unlatched the window, sliding it open.

Glass crunched beneath his feet as he surveyed the dark room. He slid the window closed behind him and moved to the door, deadbolting it shut and latching it shut. He moved into the bathroom and turned on the light, shielding himself from the light. After a few moments of pain, he flipped the bathroom lights off and turned on the light from the entryway. He covered his eyes until he made it back to the bathroom.

He leaned into the mirror and started to examine himself in the dim light. As he suspected, his face was covered in blood, aside from a few streaks across his face leading from his eyes. He didn't sweat much on the walk, despite the heat. The only other bit of white was visible through his bloodshot eyes. His once white shirt was stained red and green and his jeans were about as well off. He stripped off his pants, throwing them in the tub and turning the shower on to let the water flow over it.

He returned to the mirror, wincing as he took off his shirt, tossing it in the tub as well. He grabbed the washcloth that was hanging next to the sink and started to soak it in water, watching as blood fell from his hand and spiraled down the sink, turning the basin pink as it did.

He squeezed the rag in his left hand and flinched as he gently began to wash his now swollen right hand. He examined his hand once was it was cleared of the blood, feeling the out of line knuckles in his hand. He sighed, placing a dry washcloth in his mouth and started to pop the knuckles back into place. His muffled screams filled the room. He hunched over the sink, his shoulders heaving as he listened for any noise other than the running water.

After he was sure he heard nothing, he turned the sink back on, rinsing the rag out again. He winced as he brushed the cloth along his shoulder, revealing a dark purple bruise on each one. He found several abrasions and cuts along his chest before moving on to his face. Both of his eyes were surrounded by a black and purple ring as he wiped gore away from them. Touching his nose caused him to grunt in pain and he pushed the rag back in his mouth taking several deep breaths before setting his nose back into place.

He spat out the rag and started to dab at the cuts on his face. He moved gently around the large tear in his skin over his right temple and then moved to do the same to the smaller one on his left. The rest of his face was swollen and covered in scrapes just like his chest was. He let the rag fall into the sink and started to feel around the back of his head. He winced as he reached the swelling from where Carlos had struck him. He continued on lightly and found a wide cut on the back of his head. He dropped his hand and leaned into the mirror, taking a deep breath before slightly nodding at himself.

He pushed himself off the sink, his arm catching himself on the wall behind him as he nearly toppled over again. Once he steadied himself, he made his way into the shower hissing as the running water sprayed into the cuts across his body. He looked down as the white tub turned red. The hunter groaned in pain as he fully stepped under the stream of water, allowing it to spray down his head.

He watched as the red water slowly faded to a lighter and lighter pink. He leaned against the wall and started to sob, letting his tears join the flow of water.

The water started to run cold and he pushed himself up, lathering his body with the bar of soap, focusing on the cuts on his head around his body. He shivered as he rinsed himself in the cold water before grabbing his shirt and ringing in out under the water until the water ran clear again. He hung it over the shower curtain and did the same with his jeans.

The faucets squeaked as he turned the water off, grabbing a towel and patting himself dry gently. The white towel was spotted red by the time he threw it around his waist and headed toward one of the beds. He sat up against the headboard and stared at the black room.

Light started to filter through the window as the sun slowly rose. The hunter blinked a few times, pulling himself away from the wall. He sighed and moved to the bathroom, putting on his damp shirt before pulling up his soggy jeans. He bundled the towel and washcloth up and tossed them out of the window before quietly following behind them. He turned and that no one was behind the building before stashing the bundle within the tree line ahead of him. He looked toward the down at his still stained shirt as fresh patches of blood started to soak through. The hunter shook his head, grimacing at the pain, before heading into the town.

* * *

"We've landed," Charlie said, holding the phone to his ear as Fiona went to rent a car "Have you found anything?"

"One of August's cards was used on a couple of purchases today," Jack replied on the phone. "Tourist shop, electronics store, pharmacy, and most recently a hotel, all in Yoro."

"That's a weird set of shops for those two," Fiona commented as she returned with keys in her hand. "Are you sure it hasn't been reported stolen?"

"Nothing has popped up so far," Jack told them.

"Guess we're heading that way," Charlie sighed, looking at the time on his phone.

"Have you heard anything about mom?" Fiona asked, taking her phone from Charlie.

"I haven't, we're still searching the area to see where they would have gone."

Fiona sighed, looking at the floor. "Let me know if you hear anything," she whispered before hanging up. She turned to the beta as they headed toward the parking lot, handing him the keys. "You drive first."

"But—" Charlie started.

"It's one in the morning, no one is on the road to stop you from driving fast and we need to catch up with them before they move on. I'll take over once more people start getting on the road and you can rest in case we have to fight whoever stole August's card."

"Fine," Charlie groaned, pressing the remote to unlock the doors. "I could get used to this," he added as a Mustang's headlights flashed at them. "Bet I could beat Steve in a race with this."

"Imagine his face," Fiona added chuckling slightly.

Charlie shook his head as the pair ducked into the car. They had just made it out of Palenque when Fiona finally nodded off. Charlie smiled at her slightly. "Jack'll find Yoshiko and your mom," he whispered before speeding off down the road.

The sun started to rise as Charlie continued speeding down the winding road. He pulled over and nudged Fiona awake. "Alright," the banshee grumbled before getting out of the car and switching places with Charlie. "Get some rest and be ready," she told him.

"Just drive safe," he told her before resting his head against the warm window. He closed his eyes as Fiona pulled away.

A few hours later, Charlie's eyes snapped open as Fiona drove into the town. "What?" Fiona asked, slamming on the breaks.

"August is hurt, bad," Charlie whispered. "He closed off the link. I can't heal him from here."

"Can you guide me there?" Fiona asked, speeding up to drive through the town.

Charlie nodded and started to point her down a few roads before pulling up to a hotel. Charlie jumped out of the car and ran up the stairs as Fiona tried to chase behind him. The beta slammed through the door, and felt his body jerk back as he was shot in the shoulder. "Stay where you are," August shouted, hopping off the bed before falling back to the ground.

"It's me," Charlie gasped, rushing to the hunter. August's right hand was crudely wrapped with a bandage and the bandages that covered most of his head were stained red. "What the hell happened to you?"

August gasped and the gun clattered to the floor as Charlie grabbed the hunter's left arm. Black tendrils started to climb up the beta's arm as the door slammed shut. "We need to get moving," Fiona warned them. "Everyone heard the door and the gunshot." The banshee stopped when she saw the bruising around August's eyes and behind his ear. She looked at the rest of his wounds as Charlie started to heal him. "He probably has a fractured skull," she whispered to the beta.

Charlie nodded. "I can feel it. I'm trying to heal that first." he gasped and released the hunter. "You should be able to walk a bit better now," he explained helping the hunter to his feet. "I'll get the rest once we get in the car."

"We'll get your things," Fiona told him, supporting the hunter as he staggered

"There's nothing to grab," August muttered.

The pair looked at the hunter for a moment before rushing out of the door. "What the hell—" a man started to say before Charlie pushed him out of their way. Charlie leapt from the balcony and landed next to the car, the bullet from his shoulder falling on the ground right after him. Fiona helped August down the steps past the amassing crowd.

"Help me get him in the back," Fiona told Charlie after he started the car. August's face had lost all its color as Fiona struggled to keep him up. The beta dragged the hunter through the back seat and immediately grabbed his arm.

"Get us out of here," Charlie told the banshee, black tendrils crawling up his arm, as a crowd of people headed for the car. Dust flew into the air behind them before Fiona spun the car around and sped out of the parking lot. "Where's Steve?" the beta asked once color started to return to August's face.

August's eyes started to water before he closed his eyes, pushing the tears onto his cheeks. "We were attacked," the hunter muttered shakily. "Dad—Tiberius and Marcus—some other hunters—they took him."

"Where?" Fiona asked.

"I don't know," August whispered.

* * *

"They found August, within your—"

"They didn't find Steve," Jay barked, cutting Leonard off. "Which means I'm going to help find him."

Leonard bit his lip as he watched the werecheetah pack. "That was the deal," Leonard sighed, stepping out of the doorway.

"No," Kaia stated, pulling the werelion back into the room. "They haven't attacked us yet," she explained, grabbing the werecheetah and ignoring his growl at her. "And we know they haven't killed Steve."

"She's right," Marin stated as she walked up the steps. The others turned to her in shock. "Fiona called me yesterday and explained what was going on. I've been searching all over town and haven't seen any armed attackers here."

"So, then there is no problem here. I'm going to find Steve," Jay told them, escaping Kaia's grasp and heading toward the door.

Leonard shot his arm out, blocking Jay's path. "They might be trying to bait us," he said.

"Then we should all go together," Zach stated, pushing his way into the room and grabbing his own bag.

"Unless that's what they want," Kaia told them.

"We don't know what they want or who they even are," Jay spat.

"That's not completely true," Marin interrupted. "Whoever these hunters are and whoever organized and coordinated the attacks—"

"Which could have been Tiberius," Kaia said, interrupting the emissary.

Marin nodded at her as the others fell silent. "They have taken control of the areas around each nemeton," she concluded.

"Except for here," Zach reminded her.

"Because there is no Republic here," Jay stated. "This was an attack on the Republics and is not our problem."

"I don't think this is just an attack on the Republics," Marin replied. "If it were, they would have moved on and hunted the members that had escaped. This seems different."

"But why create a zone of control around the nemetons?" Zach asked.

"They are beacons for supernatural creatures, some even have powerful creatures locked within them," Leonard explained before turning to Marin. "Do you think they are looking for something or looking to bait others in?"

The emissary shook her head. "I don't have enough information to go off of."

Jay looked at Marin as he grabbed his bag. "Not having enough information is not a reason for me to stick around here."

Leonard shot out his arm, blocking the werecheetah and chimera from leaving. "Tiberius knows where we are," the werelion muttered.

"Yeah, he would have a pretty solid idea. I don't think mom or Mary told him exactly where," Kaia told him.

"And he knows about Scott's pack," Leonard continued, ignoring Kaia. "That's why they haven't attacked here."

Kaia's eyes widened as she looked to the werelion. "He doesn't think he can beat us and Scott's pack. He must be waiting for us to leave Scott and the others before attacking. He knows the aliases August would have set up for us."

"Which means he can track any purchase we make and every border we cross," Zach realized, dropping his bag.

"So, what? We just pretend everything is fine?" Jay huffed.

The room fell silent for a moment. "Yes," Leonard said, almost in a whisper. The others in the room snapped to him. "Either way, they want us to leave, so we don't."

"The others are planning to leave. Tiberius can just wait until then," Zach told him.

"We should tell Scott," Jay stated.

"No," Leonard snapped. "We aren't going to ask Scott and the others to drop all of their plans for life. Not if we don't have to."

"This kinda seems like we have to," Zach said.

"Not if we can reunite before they leave. Even if they leave before we get Steve and the others back, we'll still have Satomi, Liam, and the others," Leonard said.

"We also don't know if Tiberius is really behind all of the attacks. Or if Beacon Hills is even in the crosshairs," Kaia added. "It wouldn't be fair for us to stop Scott and the others from living their lives."

"Maybe we can force the attacker's hands if we find out more information about them. We can secretly dig around. If we can find something and act like we don't know what is happening—"

"They'd get overconfident and strike thinking we are oblivious," Zach finished.

"Or they just kill Steve, or kill August and the others to force our hand," Jay scoffed.

"Tiberius had the chance to kill August, that other man nearly did, but Tiberius stopped him. So, August is safe," Leonard explained.

"Fiona will be able to sense any danger to her and the others, so long as she stays with Charlie those two will be safe as well," Marin added.

"Us leaving would make us the easiest targets," Kaia said.

"We still have the link too, and the armory is not known by Tiberius, we can repurpose that as shelter," Leonard stated.

"I'm not going to hide," Jay growled.

"Don't," Leonard told him. "Go to practice tomorrow; you and Zach can go and play since Scott and the others will be there. Kaia and I can start to move the weapons to the basement and create a base of operations in the armory."

"We can get some cameras to watch the nemeton from here. If they try to set up stealthily, we'll be able to attack before they can establish themselves," Kaia stated.

"What do we tell the others?" Zach asked. "They should know about Steve and what could be coming."

"If they know about Steve, they'll want to help find him," Marin explained. "If the plan is to stay here, you shouldn't tell him anything."

"So, we lie and tell them everything is just peachy," Jay huffed.

"I think we have to," Leonard stated before turning to Marin. "Do you think this is the right plan?"

"I think the nemeton must be protected at all costs. I think whatever these hunters are doing requires all of the nemeton to be under their control. If all of you leave now, it will be vulnerable."

"I don't like this," Jay muttered.

"I'll run it by the others and see what they think, but for now, this is our plan," Leonard stated.

* * *

"If Tiberius is launching a full-scale assault against the Republic, he would have had to build a network of operations outside of what the Republic has to offer," August stated once they entered the hotel room.

"Mine isn't as good as yours," Charlie said, pulling out his laptop and passing it to the hunter. "But, you should still be able to track him down."

"The others are going to stay home in order to protect the nemeton and, if they can, try to bait the hunters and stop the assault before it happens," Fiona told the others as she walked into the room. "I think it's a good idea."

"Are they really afraid of our packs?" August asked, his eyes not leaving the screen.

"Between Scott's pack, Satomi's, Noshiko, a hellhound, and a police force that can mobilize on the hunters, they'd be better off trying to lure us all away," Charlie explained.

"I don't think anyone has heard from Noshiko since she gave us Kira's sword," Fiona stated.

"Scott and the others leave in about a week too," August added as his fingers stumbled around the keyboard. "We don't have a large window." The hunter slammed on the keys in frustration.

"When's the last time you slept?" Charlie asked, nodding toward the bags under the hunter's eyes.

"I haven't been able to—"

"Then try," Fiona said, pulling the laptop from the hunter. "I'll do my best to search for Tiberius. Charlie can keep watch. It's safe to sleep here," she added, staring at the hunter's wide eyes.

"She's right," Charlie added. "If we can't find something, we have tomorrow morning."

"Unless—"

"They haven't yet. And I don't think they will until they get what they want from us."

August looked between the pair before sighing and heading for one of the beds. He sat staring at the ceiling until Charlie turned on the TV. The hunter sat up, and the video became flashes of light in front of his closed eyelid as the low hum of the voices started to fade away.

* * *

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Coach screamed from the sidelines as Jay's face caught another ball.

"Are you alright?" Scott asked, rushing to the werecheetah and turning him toward him.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Scott looked back at him skeptically. "It's Kate," Zach whispered pulling Scott away from Jay. "They still haven't found her and Jay is just frustrated."

"Oh," Scott whispered, nodding his head. He clapped the werecheetah's shoulders. "They'll get her soon. I don't think anything could take out those two."

Jay glared at Scott before turning to Zach. "We have to tell half-truths, or they'll be able to hear our heartbeat," Zach told him.

Jay scoffed and ran to his spot, preparing for the next face-off. "Now let's actually see you play some lacrosse," Coach shouted.

* * *

"Honestly, if we kill him now, no one will even care," Steve heard a muffled voice say on the other side of the curtain. He couldn't gauge how far away the voice was. His ears were swollen and every inch of his body hurt from last night's beating. The alpha tried to open his swollen eyes and could see black blood leaking from the cuts on his abdomen. Each man that drew blood with their fist was awarded one slice of his flesh. But at least Carlos told them to leave him until he returned, with or without their boss.

_"Last respite,"_ Steve thought.

"Carlos wants that kill," another man said. "I'm not going to stand in his way."

"Stop chatting and keep loading those crates," another man ordered.

The faint bang of wooden crates resumed echoing through the warehouse as the men fell silent. A door slowly creaked open on the other side of the warehouse and the stacking of the boxes stopped. The alpha felt a tear slip through the swelling before falling from his face.

A bang of something on metal reached Steve's ears. A moment passed and one of the men screamed briefly before being silenced. Followed by another bang and cry for help. Gunshots rang through Steve's head as he tried to cover his ears with his arms. The bullets paused for a moment and the room fell silent for a second.

"Please don't kill me—Please no—let me go," the man who had given orders before whispered.

"Say it," another man said. The alpha lifted his head toward the voice.

"Lobisomem," the man whimpered. "Wolfman."

"So, you know what I can do," the familiar voice replied. Two more grunts echoed as a steel drum was knocked over. "Why are you hunting werewolves."

"Because of you," the man whispered. "He wants you. He doesn't care about the others. They are only experiments."

"Who?" the voice asked casually. After a moment, he growled. "Who wants—" he started before pausing.

"No," the man sobbed as something was dragged toward Steve.

The rings of the curtain clicked as it slid open. "What the hell," the voice muttered. "Get him down," he growled at the man. "Now!" he added with a growl.

Steve felt the current of electricity die as a lever nearby clanged. The chains holding him to the fence started to rattle as shaky hands started to undo the locks. The alpha felt the swelling around his eyes start to slowly shrink and he saw a black-haired man with glowing blue eyes glaring at the man removing the chains.

Steve grunted as his body swung forward, now freed from the chain-link fence behind him. The blue-eyed man helped steady the alpha as a clinking of chains above him slowly lowered him toward the ground. His shoulders cracked as they were finally allowed to fall limp in front of him. The other werewolf nodded at the handcuffs and the man slowly approached the alpha.

One cuff clicked open and layers of scabbing peeled off with it, releasing the scent of blood into the air. Steve's free hand lunged out to his side, crushing the man's throat before his claws started to dig in. "Steve stop!" the werewolf shouted.

Steve turned to the blue-eyed werewolf, his red eyes shining in defiance. The other werewolf tried to pry Steve's grip from the man, but Steve yanked back, taking the man's trachea with him. "Who are you?" Steve growled, tossing the gore to the ground and turning on the werewolf, stumbling.

"Derek Hale," the other man replied, steadying the alpha. "We met a few years ago."

"What're you doing here?" Steve slurred as his burst of adrenaline started to fade.

"I was trying to get information out of him, but—" Derek sighed, looking down at the man. "We need to get you out of here." Steve nodded and Derek helped lower the alpha to the ground. "Wait here."

Steve watched Derek walk back to the other side of the curtain before pushing himself to his knees. He spotted one of the other men that Derek fought through and started to crawl towards him. He heard a large sheet whip through the wind as he reached the unconscious man. His now shaking hand reached forward and started to grip the man's throat. "What're you doing?" Derek shouted from the other side.

"Killing them," Steve hissed trying to squeeze with all his strength. He grit his teeth as he still felt air wheezing through the windpipe and tried to dig in his claws. The man's throat slipped out of his grasp as Derek lifted the alpha off the ground. Steve growled lightly before being turned to face the black Camaro. "That's my car," he stated.

"Good, we're going to leave in it."

"I'm driving," Steve spat as Derek continued to drag him toward the passenger side.

"No, you're not. You can't even walk." Steve glared at the other werewolf. "You need to focus on healing, not driving." Derek reminded him.

Steve's face softened as he reached down and felt his bloody abdomen. "Fine," the alpha whispered. Derek nodded and helped him into the seat before buckling him in. "Just be careful," Steve added once Derek got into the driver seat.

Derek nodded before looking back and putting the car in reverse. Red and blue lights flooded the building's interior as three police cruisers pulled up to the warehouse. "Sai do veículo!" one of the officers shouted, stepping out of his car and aiming his pistol at the Camaro.

"I'm sorry," Derek muttered before throwing the car in drive and slamming through the wall ahead of them. Steve cried out in pain as his seat belt tightened on his wounds. As the car hit the ground, another yelp of pain escaped Steve's throat. The alpha's head slumped forward as his vision faded away.

* * *

August lurched up in bed as his eyes snapped open. He snatched the hand that grabbed his shoulder before turning to face Charlie. The hunter's breathing started to slow down, but his grip remained tight. "You're safe," Charlie whispered to the hunter. The beta remained still, not trying to escape from the hunter's crushing grip. August nodded as he tried to take deeper breaths. "Fiona found one of Tiberius's properties nearby. We can scope it out while she sleeps. Get some fresh air," Charlie added as August's hand started to loosen.

August nodded and Charlie helped him out of the bed. A few birds were chirping as they stepped outside, the sky was still black. "Fiona's been having a tough time lately," Charlie stated as they pulled away. August looked over to the beta, but remained quiet. "She's been separated from the link. Nearly died when we tried to heal Daedalus after the attack. Worried about her parents and our pack—"

"Before the attack, it sounded like what happened to Mary before the hotel," August stated. "Does she still have that feeling?"

"I think so," Charlie muttered.

"Maybe Leonard and Kaia are right, they are waiting for something to happen back at Beacon Hills before they strike. There are more forces located there than the other Republics."

"I still can't believe this is happening."

"I can," August whispered. "It's far from the first time a Caesar has turned on the Republic. But there has never been something this large in scale. Nero was probably the closest, but he had help."

"Nero didn't have more than half a year to plan outside of everyone else's scrutiny, someone would have caught on."

"I should have checked on him more," August muttered.

"It's not your fault. The whole pack left on bad terms, and the Republic was dissolved. It was all he knew and something must have just snapped. I don't think we could have done anything differently without compromising ourselves. And you weren't exactly available for half the year.

"Yeah," August sighed.

The pair continued to drive in silence until Charlie turned off the headlights. "Should be just ahead," he whispered. The beta pulled off on the side of the road and killed the engine. He held a finger up to August before quietly exiting the car and ducking behind it. August watched through the mirror as he slowly crept toward the back of a rundown warehouse a few buildings away. Charlie's blue eyes glowed as he turned his head to the side, pointing his ear toward the building. _"No one is here," _Charlie thought back to the hunter.

August nodded and stepped out of the car, slowly moving toward Charlie's position. _"No cameras, at least on this side," _he thought, scanning the building. _"No obvious traps."_

_"Might be alarmed though."_

_"You'd be able to outdrive the police,"_ August thought before moving ahead. He moved along the side of the building and peeked around the corner, spotting a window. After checking for more cameras, he moved under the window and stood so he could see what was inside. _"What the hell?"_ he thought, spotting a black duffel bag in the middle of the floor.

_"Is that—?"_ Charlie started, catching up to the hunter.

_"I think so,"_ the hunter continued to move around the building to a side door. A small window on the door let out a bit of light. August took off his shirt and started to wrap his hand before hearing the glass smash behind him. He jumped and looked back as Charlie reached through and opened the door.

The beta pulled his blood-stained hand back out and brushed off the glass. _"You've got help now,"_ Charlie told him, allowing August to see the healing hand.

The hunter nodded and put his shirt back on. _"No audible alarm at least."_

_"Let me check first,"_ Charlie thought, holding out a hand and stopping the hunter. The beta slowly moved through the warehouse toward the black bag. He sniffed the air above it before bringing his ear closer to the bag. The werewolf straightened and slowly started to unzip the bag. After a moment, he waved the hunter forward.

_"This is everything that was in Steve's car,"_ August thought to him.

_"He's taunting us."_

_"Which means he knows where we are."_

"Fiona," Charlie gasped as the two glanced at each other. Charlie ran for the door and August snatched the bag before heading after him, barely making it in the car before Charlie sped back toward the motel.

The pair flew out of the car, the car leaving it idling with its doors swinging slightly. They rushed to the door and scanned their card. Charlie threw open the door as August pointed his gun, but froze when he saw Fiona jump up from where she had fallen asleep on the table.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Fiona hissed at them.

"Tiberius knows where we are," Charlie explained as he started to pack up their belongings. "Go watch the car," he ordered, turning to August. The banshee nodded at the hunter before she started to help Charlie pack.

"So, what is the plan after we run from here?" Fiona asked once August left the room. "If he is tracking our cards, we can't just go somewhere else without Tiberius knowing."

"I know," Charlie muttered, pausing for a minute. "We might have to stay in the car." He paused and turned to Fiona. "You should—"

"No," the banshee said, silencing the beta. "I will not run back to Jack and hide. Not until I know Steve is safe, and not until you're there with me."

Charlie nodded at her slightly before he resumed packing.

* * *

Jay grunted as a body collided with his front before slamming into the ground. The werecheetah sprang back to his feet, growling as he approached the other played. "You better relax," Brett stated, grabbing the caging on his helmet and holding him back. "One minute, you're spaced out, the next you're out for blood. I can't read your mind, so why don't you tell me what's going on in your head?"

"That's enough, Brett," Zach muttered, pulling the werewolf's hand off the cage.

"Is it?" Brett asked, turning to the chimera. "Last time he was this antsy he nearly took down a forest—"

Jay snarled before lunging at Brett. The werecheetah landed on top of Brett and went to shake his hand free from its glove. "Hey!" Scott shouted from across the field as Jay's wrist was grabbed, keeping the glove on. He went to shake his other hand free but it was grabbed by Scott and the pair pulled him off. "What the hell is wrong with you?" the alpha whispered as a crowd started to form.

"We aren't going to keep practicing with you if this is how you're going to play," another of the Devenford players announced.

"Relax, guys," Brett told them, taking off his helmet. "It's nothing I can't handle."

"That's not the point," Scott stated, before turning back to Jay. "You're suspended for a week."

Jay scoffed at the alpha, kicking his stick before walking away. "I'll handle it," Zach told Scott before running after the werecheetah.

* * *

_"So much for acting normal,"_ Zach's voice sighed in Leonard's head. _"Scott just suspended Jay for attacking Brett."_

Leonard snapped the pen he was writing with, causing the ink to soak his notebook and his arm. "You alright?" Melissa asked, catching the dipping ink with a tissue before it could reach the floor.

"Yeah," Leonard grunted. "Jay just—he's been acting out and I can't seem to control him."

"I don't think it's your job to control your friends," Melissa replied, passing more tissues to the werelion. "You should probably talk to him and figure out what is going on—"

"I already know what is going on."

"Then be supportive."

Leonard sighed. "If only it were that easy."

* * *

Steve eased his eyes open. Aside from the lights on the radio and dashboard, it was pitch black. His eyes started to glow red as he looked down at his bare abdomen. The wounds had started to scab over and lose some of their width. "How are you doing?" Derek asked, keeping his eyes on the road.

"I need to get back to my pack," Steve muttered.

"I'm not so sure that is a good idea."

"You don't get to make decisions for me," Steve barked. Derek remained stoic, his eyes on the road. "I'm going back to my pack."

"I've been following Carlos for a while," Derek stated as he exited the highway. "I know what he can do, and I'm honestly surprised you're still alive."

"It was only a matter of time," Steve mumbled.

"As far as I know he doesn't know about your pack. But he knows about you, and once he has you in his sights, he's going to follow you."

Steve sat silent for a moment. "I don't have the link. I should have that so I can fight him—to protect my pack."

"It's not safe to get your pack involved."

Steve's eyes shined bright red. "You don't know what we're capable of," the alpha growled, pushing himself out of his seat.

Derek turned and roared and the alpha, his blue eyes flooding the interior of the car with light. Steve slank back into his seat. "I know what he is capable of," Derek said softly after shifting back to normal. He pulled off the road and drove the Camaro deep into the wooded area. "Follow me," he stated, exiting the car.

"Where are we?"

"Carlos and his men aren't going to care if you have a pack to fight him. If you lead him to Beacon Hills, he'll kill everyone in your pack. In Satomi's, in Scott's. He'll wipe Beacon Hills off the map."

"How?"

"Because it's not just him and his thugs that he left behind at the warehouse. He's gained access to all of the resources of the Cangaço—"

"The what?"

"They were groups of Brazilian bandits, united under Lampião. Following his death, it was thought that the group was destroyed, consumed from the inside while police hunted down the remaining leaders. But, one of the groups stayed hidden, slowly infiltrating the Brazilian government, and spreading their web through the Americas to ensure they stayed hidden. But they're stepping out of their shadow now."

"Why?"

"Because they saw a werewolf and a werejaguar fight in the streets of Tegucigalpa." Steve froze. Derek paused and turned back to the alpha. "That's how they know about you. They've been using their resources to find other packs and other supernatural creatures."

"And does what he did to me?"

Derek turned back and shook his head before walking deeper into the woods. "How long has Carlos been gone?"

"I-I don't know," Steve stammered.

"Last night he found another pack of werewolves. They were just in their home. Eating, having a meeting, maybe just spending time together," Steve's nose started to twitch as the scent of blood and burnt flesh flooded the area. "Whatever they were doing, they weren't prepared."

All sound seemed to vanish as Steve came to a stop once the pair entered a clearing. A line of houses arcs around the tree line, reminding Steve of his time in Colorado. His eyes locked on what was left of a charred house. The alpha pushed past Derek and entered through a hole that had been burned through the side of the house. Four adult forms and three smaller, blackened, corpses sat in the center of the room. He turned back as the other werewolf followed him inside. "No code would condone the slaughter of children."

"They don't follow a code," Derek stated. "They aren't hunters. They were just normal people, living their lives until they found out about the supernatural."

"Creatures have been spotted by people all the time," Steve said, walking toward Derek. "Just cause they see one of us doesn't mean they suddenly know everything about the supernatural world. It doesn't mean they turn into murderers!" Steve continued, raising his voice. Derek continued to stare at the alpha. "You don't get to blame this on me!" the alpha choked, pointing at the corpses behind him.

"I don't," Derek replied. "I blame Kate. She's the one that explained the world to them, that got them involved to drag you off her trail."

"How do you know?"

"She's after yellow wolfsbane," Derek nearly whispered, looking down at the bodies. "And you stopped her. And I've stopped her before. And now we're being hunted while she continues her search," Derek paused for a moment. "And this is exactly what she would have done."

The pair jumped as they heard a caravan of cars move up the gravel drive and to the ring of houses. They ran toward the other wall, next to a window facing the center of the circle. Eight police cars pulled up, lining the drive. "They work for Carolos," Derek warned.

"Damnit," Steve muttered. "We're not just being hunted by psychopaths pretending to be hunters, but law enforcement officers?" Derek nodded at him. "I'll help you," Steve stated as he turned back to look through the back of the burned house. "I'll help you stop Kate from getting the wolfsbane and Carlos from killing more people. But I get to kill them."

"I'm not making that—"

"The proximity sensors went off, fan out and find them," one of the officers ordered in Portuguese, interrupting Derek.

"We need to run away from the car and before circling back," Steve stated.

"We should just leave the car," Derek said, looking at Steve's torso

"No," Steve stated. "I can outrun some beat cops. I'm not letting them use my car to hurt people."

Derek nodded at Steve. Shouts and bullets followed after them as they sprinted into the woods.

* * *

"We don't know if Steve is dead or not!" Kaia heard Jay scream as she walked into the house. "We were lucky Charlie and Fiona were able to find August when they did or he would have died from his skull fracture!"

"We know Steve isn't dead, we can feel him!" Leonard shouted back.

Kaia glanced at Zach standing in the corner, he raised his eyebrows and shook his head slightly at her before sighing and hanging his head. "And the longer we sit around and do nothing, the closer Steve gets to dying! He was captured by Tiberius! An experienced hunter whose brother would have had us all dead if he had his way!"

"And the hunter who coordinated deadly strikes on all the nemetons around the world! Who could be waiting to kill us or our friends the second we leave here!"

"Or no!"

"We aren't leaving here until we know it's safe!"

"You just don't want to leave you fake little day job!"

Leonard growled, his eyes flashing green, as he shoved Jay into the wall, pinning him in place. "Leonard!" Kaia and Zach called out, moving closer to the werelion.

"I'm trying to keep the rest of us safe!" the werelion growled. Jay's eyes flashed amber and he opened his mouth to respond as Zach and Kaia reached out to separate the two. Leonard roared, petrifying everyone as his emerald eyes glared at Jay. "I'm in charge, we're staying."

Jay huffed and shook his head. "Apple doesn't fall far." Leonard hesitated and released the werecheetah, letting his eyes fade to brown. "You want to be in charge so bad? Fine. Be the king your dad groomed you to be. I just hope it doesn't blow up in your face."

Jay checked Leonard as he left the room and moved upstairs. Leonard flinched when Jay slammed his door. "Leonard—" Kaia started, reaching for his shoulder

The werelion brushed her off. "I need to go," he muttered, exiting the house.

* * *

"I know he is out there still. I just have to find where he's being kept," August whispered, leaning in so he could be heard over the chatter in the dinner.

"August, it's been a week," Charlie warned, he turned to Fiona, but the banshee's eyes were fixated on something behind August.

"I can feel him through the link."

"The link's been getting weaker," the beta replied. "We could have searched different towns before, but now we can't go much past a city limit without disconnecting. I can't even feel the others back in Beacon Hills anymore."

"I can't either, but Steve is different. Like you would have been able to find Fiona."

"He's right," Fiona muttered, staring past August. "I would have known."

"Then what's the plan?"

"We keep looking for him. Once we find him we kill anyone that stands in our way."

Charlie sighed. "August, that's been the plan, it's not working. Steve might not even be on this side of the world anymore."

* * *

"It's too hot for this shit," a shirtless Steve remarked as he sprinted after a shirtless Derek.

"That waitress said she was sure she saw the yellow wolfsbane out here," Derek shouted back.

"Except it was a mountain bellwort, can't we get a picture of the damn thing instead of trying to describe it to people?"

Derek shook his head "I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Well, I guess we can be both once the FBI catches us," Steve replied. The alpha heard a motor whir to his right and spotted a drone flying after them. He snatched a rock off the ground and flung it at the drone, causing it to space into a tree and fall to the ground.

The pair rounded a rock outcropping and paused to catch their breath. The barking dogs and shouts of the agents started to grow closer again. "We should split up, meet back at the motel," Derek painted.

"Yeah, why, not," Steve sighed, looking around the corner, scanning for the approaching agents. He turned back and Derek had vanished. The alpha looked down and saw a black wolf running away from Derek's pants and shoes. "You son of a bitch," he muttered gathering the discarded clothes. I guess I'll carry these too," he added before sprinting off the other way.

* * *

"I don't know," August sighed.

"We can go back to Jack, see what he knows, or if he and what's left of the Republic can help," Charlie offered.

August huffed. "Like Malik would help us. Maybe it's time we get Scott and the others involved. I just wanted them to be able to move—" August froze once his eyes connected with the TV. A news report was showing video of Steve and Derek Hale running shirtless through the woods. "Excuse me," August shouted, flagging down the waitress. "Can you turn this up?"

The waitress scowled at him but complied. "What the hell?" Charlie muttered as he turned to watch the TV.

"The FBI led a chase this morning near Ducktown, Georgia disrupting a lot of people's mornings. The serial killers Derek Hale and Steve Lykos evaded capture and Interpol warns that they may attempt to cross the border again. FBI Spokesperson Linda Hall is here with us today—"

"Well, he's alive," August stated, turning back to Charlie as the video of Steve running cut to black.

"That's why we can't find him," Charlie added. "If he's covering his trail from Interpol, we have no chance of catching up to him."

"We can find him. We'll just need more resources, like the FBI has."

Charlie cocked his head at the hunter. "You're not thinking of—"

"It wouldn't be too hard. I've tried it before for fun. We'd even have an ally inside who could help us."

"Communication alone is going to be hard enough," Charlie replied. August stared at the werewolf before raising an eyebrow. Charlie sighed. "Let me make the call."

The beta got up from the booth and headed toward the door, pulling out his phone and calling Jack.


End file.
